How 50 Nalasopara residents lost Rs 10 lakh to debit card fraud

MUMBAI: Nalasoparapolice in the west and Tuling police station in the east have registered cases of skimming (card cloning) between August 2 to 8. In most cases, victims received SMSes of cash withdrawals though they didn't withdraw money from an ATM and had their cards with them. While cases under section 420 (cheating) of the IPC and sections 65(d) and 66(k) of the Information Technology Act have been registered against unknown persons, police suspect the withdrawals were done from outside Maharashtra.

In Nalasopara, on August 4, businessman Ravindra Dhimre (51) was woken up by an SMS at midnight. He was shocked to learn Rs 70,000 was withdrawn from his Union Bank account. Dhimre rushed to look for his debit card which he found was intact in his wallet. Dhimre then approached the police.
In the next few days, around 40 victims approached police with similar complaints, with cash involved varying from Rs 7,000 to Rs 70,000. The total amount lost to skimming so far in Nalasopara (West) alone is to Rs 8.01 lakh.

In Nalasopara (East), a 46t year-old man lost Rs 20,000 to skimming. The victim receii ved an SMS of the withdrawal.He was in possession of his debit card and had not made any t withdrawals in the past few dat ys. Investigating officer N K Patil said so far around 15 victims have approached the police, adding most victims lost money between August 2 to 8.

olice are investigating whether victims living in Nalasopara were especially chosen by the fraudsters. So far no complaints from Vasai and Virar have been received by the police during this period.

Police said the withdrawals are believed to have been done from Union Bank and Axis Bank ATMs in New Delhi and Kanpur. While all victims live in Nalasopara, many of them have bank accounts in Mumbai.

One victim, said police, has an account in Uttar Pradesh but ended up losing money to skimming.

Police said they have contacted their counterparts in New Delhi and Kanpur to obtain CCTV footages of the ATM withdrawals. Police have also obtained details of debit card transactions by the victims in the past few days.