ATM cloning: 4 nabbed fraudsters brought to Tripura from Kolkata

Agartala: The cyber crime branch of Tripura Police on Wednesday brought the four accused — who were held in connection with the ATM cloning case in November last year — to Agartala from Kolkata after getting the production warrant accepted by the local court.

Speaking with EastMojo, DSP (cyber crime) Dipankar Paul said that the four accused, including two Turkish and two Bangladeshi nationals, stole huge amounts of money from bank accounts of customers through ATM cloning devices installed in Agartala. They were arrested in Kolkata and were brought to Agartala after legal proceedings.

“After conducting their medical test, they would be produced in court where the police will seek custody of the accused for further investigation into the case,” Paul said.

The four accused — Turkish nationals Hakan Zanburkan and Fettah Aldemir, and Bangladesh nationals Md Hannan and Md Rafiqul Islam — were detained at Belgharia in Kolkata, West Bengal in the wee hours of November 19 last year.

They were detained with reference to the ATM skimming and card cloning cases registered in Agartala recently.

Acting on a tip-off, the cyber cell of Kolkata police raided the hideout in Kolkata’s Belgharia area and nabbed the two Turkey nationals. The accused persons were involved in ATM cloning and hacking of bank accounts belonging to people in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Agartala and Guwahati.

A team of cyber crime units from all the states had gone into action mode to nab the suspected Turkish nationals, who were on the run after duping huge amounts of money from the accounts of people by placing skimmers in ATMs.

Meanwhile, in order to limit the number of unauthorised transactions taking place through ATMs, State Bank of India (SBI) had recently announced the launch of a one-time password (OTP)-based ATM withdrawal system for transactions above Rs 10,000 between 8 pm and 8 am. The new system was made operational across all SBI ATMs with effect from January 1, 2020.

“With the introduction of the OTP-based cash withdrawal facility, State Bank ATMs have added another layer of security for cash withdrawals. OTP will be received on the customer’s mobile number registered with the bank,” SBI had recently posted on their social media accounts.