International “GANG OF CARDS” busted by State Cyber police ujjain.

The cyber fiddle of over ONE CRORE RUPEES by international “GANG OF CARDS” busted by State Cyber police

In ​the early hours of dawn on 19th january 2019, Mrs. Manju Rameshchandra Sharma, a resident of Mahavir Avenue, Ujjain woke up with a message on her phone, which notified her of withdrawal of Rs. 97 from her SBI joint bank account. As being sure of no such withdrawal done by her, she rushed to the nearest SBI branch, where the officials handed over her the bank statement which revealed that there have been multiple transactions being made of amounts Rs. 1, 67.70, 97 & so on. And a total amount of Rs 49,000 had been fiddled in the past nine days. She registered the complaint of fraud at the State cyber police zonal office. When investigated rigorously, the roots of illegal transactional crime were led to two residents of Bhandup, Mumbai. Shadab Ali Choudhary(23) and Mataaulla khan(27) were booked under IT Act, Clause 419, 420, 120- B and 66-C, 66-D for further deliberation on the case.

A special team was sent to Mumbai to investigate the case furthermore, who soon found out that this gang is spread overseas and the convicts with help of their partners are making illegal online purchases of data of various bank’s debit and credit cards for a minimal amount of 8$ to 16$ using bitcoin and dashcoin(Virtual currency) to make transactions through foreign websites. The falsely stolen data includes card number, expiry date, C.V. number, card holder’s name, mobile number and email ID. And once this information reaches the criminal’s end they use this data to make many smidgen transactions buying coins/points on sensational online gaming apps like teen patti, PUBG, caroom, 8 ball pool, tiktok and later selling them in lower prices to youth. Moreover these culprits were associated with some whatsapp and telegram groups where the demand & supply of coins used to be regulated and digital payment platforms and e-wallets or UPI were used to cashify the defrauded money. They even duped people on cheap online booking of luxurious hotels, flight tickets and clubs. Once the card holder is defrauded, they just receive an SMS on their mobile number and the money’s gone by the time.

The time chosen for the fraud is usually after the dark hour of 1 AM. Many international links have also been found in these carding groups. The frauders don’t need the One Time Password (OTP) to make transactions through foriegn websites, which facilitates the smooth cheating process. The ​hotspot ​of this fraudulent business in India is found near Bhandup west, Kurla and Wasai regions of Mumbai. By now the fleece through this classic case of cyber fraud has been over 1 crore rupees. The culprits during the investigation highlighted the high demand of points/coins in the digital gaming world of youth. Which in turn fueled their illegal fraud cyber undertakings. These frauders are experts at mobile hacking,password protection, two step verification and other security features. Hence, handling this cybercrime space was like shooting a fish in a barrel for these operators.

Knowing the risky times we are living in cyberspace, what should be our bit towards making sure we don’t end up being one of the prey of these digital hunters?

Advisory

Some of the advisory includes enabling and disabling one’s credit/debit card as per the requirements.

One needs to be very cautious while making purchases through playstore & never provide email ID and password to anyone for the transactions.

Never ever skip the part of keeping two-step verification and strong passwords for your accounts.

Virtual world is open to countless risks, we need to be more aware, alert and responsible in our operations, together we can make a difference.