Turkish duo held in Mumbai for 60 ATM frauds in Assam

MUMBAI: Colaba police on wednesday arrested two key members of a Turkish gang which installed skimming machines in ATM kiosks and cloned debit and credit cards to steal money.
While Colaba police are trying to ascertain if the Turkish duo, identified as Abdul Halik Yurgan (42) and Eurah Igdi (33), are involved in any city cases, the Assam cyber police say the arrested accused are involved in over 60 such crimes in Assam and Guwahati region.
Sources said the Assam cyber police on Tuesday contacted city police to alert them about the presence of the Turkish nationals in Mumbai. "The Assam police informed us their investigation suggested the two had taken shelter in Colaba, but their mobile phones were switched off. We studied the suspects' call records and zeroed in on them," said inspector S Mohite.
Based on the photographs provided by the Assam police, the Colaba police arrested the two from a hotel in the area. During interrogation, the two admitted to being part of a larger gang.
Police said the modus operandi of the gang was to enter unguarded ATM kiosks and install skimming machines along with a secret camera. When unsuspecting customers went to withdraw money, the magnetic code would be copied onto the skimming machine and the camera would capture the passwords. The accused would use the data to clone the debit/credit cards and siphon off money.
Assam cyber police led by inspector Rajib Borah on Thursday arrived and took transit remand of the duo who will be produced in an Assam court.
Assam police, who were already on their trail, got their first lead when the duo struck at an ATM kiosk in south Delhi and withdrew Rs 11,000. After the customer filed a complaint, CCTV images were examined and Assam police realized they were the same suspects who were on their radar. However, the duo fled to Mumbai.