Police claimed to have solved the ATM cloning gang by arresting two persons in Leh town of Jammu and Kashmir.A police official told GNS that police detained two suspects Ajay and Sanjay (names changed) who were in process of obtaining PIN Numbers illegally from the customers at an unguarded ATM in Leh town by pretending themselves as customers and cloning the ATM cards by placing some device on machine.In recent past District Police Leh has been receiving complaints about withdrawals of money from various accounts of customers of Leh at various locations in the National Capital Region (NCR) without their knowledge, the official said.Accordingly District Police Leh constituted a special team led by DySP Hqr Leh to investigate the matter.
Police persons in civvies were deployed at some selected ATMs with proper briefings and these ATMs were under police surveillance round the clock and after a long sustained and serious efforts the accused were finally arrested, he said.
During interrogation and enquiry it surfaced that the accused persons usually came to Leh from Delhi for 2-3 days and during this period they would choose some unguarded ATMs and attach their own cloning machine with the ATM, he said.The members of the gang pretending themselves as customers would entice genuine customers to insert their cards into the ATMs (having cloning machine fitted with it) and at the same time they would also note the PIN numbers of the customers by standing behind them, he said.During this process the members would successfully clone ATM cards and acquire PIN numbers.Thereafter they would flee the area with the collected data for generation of ATM cards etc. at Delhi and other parts of the country and withdraw money from the accounts of the customers at NCR and other parts of Northern region illegally by making and by using cloned cards for their own use, he said.This gang has been active in National Capital Region and many other States like Rajasthan, MP, Maharashtra, UP, Haryana and Delhi etc. of the Country where they use the same technique to collect data related to ATM cards.
The arrested members of this Gang are most wanted in Delhi and other parts of the Country and are prize catch, he said.District Police Leh appeals the general public/ATM card users of Leh/Srinagar and Kargil to immediately change PIN Numbers/Passwords of their ATM cards so that the chances of further withdrawals are minimized.Few more arrests are awaited and special teams have been constituted and are being sent in different directions to arrest other accused persons, the official added. (GNS)