Bangalore police bust fake card racket, arrest two suspected LTTE members

Thursday, 1 September 2011 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

DNA: Bangalore: A 100-strong international gang of credit card fraudsters, who hacked into bank accounts across the globe through internet from Malaysia and used the details thus obtained to swipe fake credit and debit cards in India, has been busted by the Bangalore police.

Two persons have been arrested by Sampigehalli police and property worth over Rs. 2 crore recovered from the duo. The remaining gang members, including the kingpin who resides in Malaysia and six local operatives, are yet to be arrested.

The arrested have been identified as Jaikumar alias Shyamvel alias Shyam, 39, a resident of Kengeri Main Road, off Mysore Road and Vaseem Pasha, 25, a resident of JJ Nagar, Mysore Road. Jai Kumar was in the fake credit card business for over two years now.

The gang is believed to have links with Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which allegedly received some cash payments from the operatives. “Kumar has admitted to paying some cash to an LTTE cadre who used to come to the city and collect the amount from him,” the police said.

They are also verifying if any payments had been made to the LTTE through bank accounts. “The mastermind stays in Malaysia. He hacked bank accounts across the globe, including India, through internet and collected their unique identity details including PIN numbers and pass on the same to a contact person in Chennai, who forwarded the same to the gang members who have settled down in various parts of the country,” commissioner of police BG Jyothi Prakash Mirji said.

The Malaysian mastermind had equipped his Indian counterparts with blank credit and debit cards. The gang members in India were also equipped with credit card printing and punching machines. They used the machines to print the unique identity details on the blank credit and debit cards in their possession and swipe them for their purchases.

Jaikumar and his associates in Bangalore had purchased about 5.5-kg gold jewellery, electronic goods and liquor, among other things from the hacked bank accounts.

The police said that Jaikumar claimed ignorance about hacking of accounts but said he was using the PIN numbers sent from the Malayasian mastermind and use the same to swipe fake credit and debit cards. He has also told the police at least 100 members of the gang were operating in various parts of the country.