Card skimming racket busted, three arrested

Investigation revealed that the gang was into stealing credentials and swindling money from bank accounts. Of the three, the main accused, Lava Chandan (32) of Tiruchy, has already been arrested by Coimbatore police for similar fraud in 2017 and went into hiding after he was released on bail, said officials. Investigation revealed that the other accused, Sikandar Badshah (37) of Dindigul, has worked in massage parlours in different parts of the country.

He would allegedly steal customers’ credit and debit card credentials using skimmer devices. Using that, he would then create cloned cards and withdraw money from the victims’ bank accounts at ATMs. “The gang invested the money in bitcoin and shared the profit,” said an official adding that they relied on some connections abroad for this. All three were remanded in judicial custody. Further investigation is on to find out whether the gang withdrew money from ATMs in the city using cloned cards.