Mumbai Police uncover credit card fraud linked to online game portals

Cops said that the accused would purchase online points from international game portals by using card details that were procured through skimmers and then transfer them to the buyers' accounts at cheaper rates to play games

Mumbai Police uncover credit card fraud linked to online game portals

Picture of the accused/ Pics/ Suraj Ojha

The accused purchased the points from international game portals by using card details procured through skimmers and then transferred them to buyers’ accounts at cheaper rates

The Mulund police have uncovered an inter-state credit and debit card fraud with the arrest of two conmen recently. They said that the accused would purchase online points from international game portals by using card details that were procured through skimmers and then transfer them to the buyers' accounts at cheaper rates to play games like PUBG, Global teen patti, Moonfrogs lab and Octro Inc across the country.

The police lodged a complaint from an advocate who said that Rs 15,618 was transferred from her credit card account. After investigations, they found out that the accused had used skimmers at an ATM kiosk in order to copy the bank data of the woman.

The accused, Hitesh Kumar alias Akshay Mahendra Bhai Patel, 21, and Natvarlal Devji Bhai Thakore, 39, both from Mahadevnagar village in Ahmedabad, were arrested on May 18, 2019. They were produced before a court and sent to police custody till May 27, 2019.

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Fake IDs for purchase

Prakash Walke, Inspector at Mulund police station said, "The accused are well known in their village for supplying game points at cheaper rates to gaming addicts. They bought the points through random mobile numbers and transferred them to the buyers' accounts after accepting money from them via Paytm."

Picture of the other accused

To buy points online, one requires a Facebook or Google ID. The accused would create fake IDs of the villagers with their phone numbers (without their knowledge) and then purchase points by using card details which they would receive from their associates. The police have found five people whose phone numbers the accused have used so far.

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Advocate Uma Shankar Sinlakar, 49, withdrew Rs 5,000 from an ATM kiosk near Mulund railway station on January 28, 2019. "Later around 20 transactions were made without the one time password (OTP)," she said. The police registered the case under Sections 419 (Punishment for cheating by personation) and 420 (Cheating) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 66 (D) (Punishment for cheating by personation by using computer resource) of the Information Technology Act, 2000.

The accused allegedly told police that they would receive data that also contained Card Verification Value (CVV) numbers from the skimmers. They claimed that if one uses the CVV number while shopping on international websites, they do not ask for an OTP. The Mumbai police are looking for the associates of the accused in the case.