City police nabs credit card frauds

KOLKATA: The cyber cell of Kolkata Police has busted a racket that duped a company of Rs 17 lakh through the sale of IPL tickets using details of foreign credit cards. While two members have been arrested, a hunt is on for the kingpin of the racket.
Nearly a month ago, Bangalore-based company Ticket Jini lodged a complaint with Kolkata Police that some persons purchased IPL tickets online using foreign credit cards.The transactions were found fraudulent and the banks refused to pay the amount. The company lost Rs 17 lakh in the process.
Probe revealed the fraudsters managed to get access to details of foreign credit cards and purchased the tickets. According to IPL ticket selling rules, they even collected the tickets by producing forged ID cards.
During these transactions, an Indian private bank acted as the payment gateway. When the bank charged their foreign counterparts, they refused to pay as their clients proved all the transactions were fraudulent.
Ramji Shaw and Bikash Kumar Singh, the two arrested, are from Girish Park and used to collect tickets after online financial transactions. "These are mere small agents of the racket and we are trying to get the key persons who have hatched the plan," said Damayanti Sen, joint CP (crime).
Days ago, Kolkata Police unearthed another racket with a similar modus operandi which was active across the country. Months ago, CESC lodged a complaint that some persons have created a fake CESC website that promises 10% rebate on online payments.
At the same time, racketeers using fake ID cards visited several people in north Kolkata who were convinced that CESC would provide 10% rebate even on spot cash payments. This way, they collected a few lakhs from consumers.
"Soon after collecting the amount, a list of consumerswho paid them would be sent to Babul Khan alias Aman Sharma, the kingpin of the racket,'' said an investigator. Next, Aman used to pay the CESC bills online using foreign credit cards. "This way, neither CESC nor the consumers were duped. But the foreign credit cardholders lost the amount," said another investigator.
Months later, the Indian bank was charged by the foreign banks. They proved that their clients never used their cards. Finally, the Indian bank found themselves on the wrong side and asked CESC to lodge a complaint. Police caught hold of Babul Khan, a Delhi-based youth, and found the racket is active nationwide. Babul and his aides made similar forgeries in Maharashtra and Rajasthan and the CBI has now taken him in their custody.
Police believe the modus operandi in both cases is the same and Babul reportedly collected the credit card details from some websites after paying money.