The soft target for ATM hackers of 3 banks of the country, theft of even the most secure card reader of ATM keeping account data, Gujarat on highest target
Hackers are now withdrawing money from ATMs if people became aware of cyber fraud
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In various states of the country, including Gujarat, there is a well-organized scam of stealing ATM card readers and withdrawing money from customers' bank accounts. In Gujarat alone, 16 card readers have been stolen and 10 dismantled so far in Surat alone. Five members of the gang have been arrested from the Pandesara area of Surat.
The accused were on a flight from Bihar to Delhi and from there to Surat. They formed different teams and targeted Axis Bank ATMs in different areas of Surat. It is feared that the masterminds of the gang are in Dubai and Africa. From there he points to the men of his gang in India. The gang has so far stolen 40 card readers in Surat in Gujarat, Mumbai in Maharashtra, Pune, Haryana, Delhi, Bihar, and Jharkhand.
The card readers are from SBI, Axis Bank, and IndusInd Bank. There have been incidents of money being withdrawn from the accounts of two people in Dindoli and Limbayat in Surat. Inquiries into the bank revealed that the money was transacted from an ATM in Azadnagar in Delhi.
Police have registered a case of card reader theft, but not a single accused has been arrested so far. Cyber experts say that the data of the customer who withdraws money from the ATM is stored in the card reader. This data can go into the hands of the gang. The first such incident in Gujarat was reported in January 2020 in Surat.
Africa-Dubai is Master Mind: points to gang members
According to cybercrime experts, this is an international scam. Some people from Africa and Dubai carry it to India. People are hired in India. A similar incident took place at IndusInd Bank in Maharashtra 15 days ago.
Apart from Mumbai in Maharashtra, 10-12 cases have been reported in Pune and Haryana, Delhi, Bihar, and Jharkhand. In addition to the four cases in Mumbai in August, there were 10 to 12 incidents in Maharashtra.
Thus stealing the card reader
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In Surat, 16 ATM card readers were stolen and a 64 GB memory card was inserted in it. 10 ATMs were opening and leaving, in which if people put the ATM card, the card would fall inside. The thieves took out the ATM card before the bank opened in the morning. There is a double password to remove the card reader from the ATM. There are also keys. So stealing is not easy. A card reader has a capacity of 120 cards, but the data is wiped out.
Training is given in Bihar-Jharkhand
The accused came to Surat in January 2020. They went underground after the first case of card reader theft came to light. They were leaving here in a lockdown. Returning in July, he targeted several ATMs.
They are skilled at making and installing schemers. The accused named Rituraj is a graduate, while the remaining 12 have passed. He is from Chowar village in the Gaya district of Bihar. It is near Jamtada village in Jharkhand. This is where many cases of ATM fraud come from. They are given this training in the village itself.
Incidents of card reader theft in Surat
On August 23, card readers of 3 ATMs were stolen in Dandeli.
Attempted card reader theft in Pandesara in a case registered on 27 August.
The cases registered on August 29 were 1-1 in Udhana and Pune.
Modus Operandi: A magnetic chip is inserted by opening an ATM, then creating a duplicate card from the software.
The accused arrested in Surat formed a team and targeted the Axis Bank's ATM. They would open the hood of the ATM with a duplicate key and install a skimmer machine with a card reader. They then steal the card data of the money launderers. An accused stands there while withdrawing money. The PIN number entered by the customer is recorded in his mobile.
The latter takes the data from the ATM to the laptop and creates a duplicate ATM card in the Writer machine through the Mini Tools software. The gang members lived in a rented house in Surat. They would open the ATM and put a magnetic chip on the card reader. The two lived around the ATM after the chip was installed. Every 15-20 minutes one would walk away and be replaced by another man.
Expert View: The chances increase with customers stealing a card reader
Cyber expert Dr. According to Chintan Pathak, the card reader is the most important part of an ATM machine. It has a magnetic chip that contains user data. The customer inserts the card and connects to the server from where the transaction takes place.
The card reader's job is to read the card and deliver it to the server. The capacity of the card reader is not fixed, only the capacity of the machine and the data is rewritten. Suppose 500-600 people come to the ATM on the first day and read the card and 500 people come on the second day then the data of the first day is rewritten.
Data is not stored permanently, so when a card reader is stolen from an ATM, the chances of fraud with customers one day earlier increase. The gang consists of people like software engineers, hardware engineers who have good knowledge of ATMs.
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