ATM card cloning gang busted, 4 arrested in Sambalpur

SAMBALPUR: Sambalpur Police on Friday apprehended four members of a gang allegedly involved in inter-state ATM skimming and cloning and recovered from their possession close to three dozen cards and Rs 1.46 lakh in cash.

The four were identified as Rajesh Prasad Singh (37) and Swadhin Bohidar (27) from Sambalpur and Sourav Kumar (20) and Sashi Bhusan Kumar (25) from Bihar.

Acting on a tip off about suspicious movement of ATM hackers in Khetrajpur area, Khetrajpur police and a special squad of Sambalpur police raided the area and nabbed the hackers. However, two other accused including the mastermind managed to escape. A special team has been formed to apprehend the absconders, police said.

Sambalpur SP, Kanwar Vishal Singh said 34 cloned ATM cards, two skimming devices, one cloning device, one ATM card insert slot, a laptop, cash amounting to `1.46 lakh, four mobile phones and a car besides other incriminating articles have been seized from their possession.  They also seized the car bearing registration number JH 01 DD 3649 used by the accused.

The SP said they generally targeted people who are not accustomed to ATM transactions. The accused collected data of ATM cards by using skimming machine on the pretext of helping people in ATM transactions. They tactfully observed the PIN number while the victim was using ATM card. They then cloned the ATM card with the help of cloning device and withdrew money with the cloned card, the SP said.

During investigation, police also found that the accused are involved in a series of ATM frauds. In Odisha, the gang was mostly active in Sambalpur and nearby districts.

“Investigation is continuing and inter-state raids are on to apprehend the master mind,” the SP said and appealed to the people not to disclose the PIN of their ATM cards to anybody. He said they would convene a meeting of the bankers over security in the ATM kiosks in the city.