Delhi Police Arrest Connaught Place Restaurant Staff Member For Cloning Customers’ Cards

New Delhi: A steward working at a popular restaurant in Connaught Place has been arrested for cloning debit and credit cards of customers.

The accused, identified as Pankaj Kumar, was arrested after the police hatched a plan to nab him following a complaint from the HDFC bank.

A screamer was also recovered from him by investigating officials.

According to DCP (New Delhi), Madhur Verma, “The HDFC bank filed a complaint alleging disputed transactions from credit and debit cards of some of its customers. The cards were in the possession of the customers, when the transactions happened."

The local police filed an FIR under sections of cheating and criminal conspiracy and started the investigation.

During the course of investigation, it was found that the disputed transactions of all the cards were done from one popular restaurant in Connaught place. The investigation team matched all the dates during which the customers’ cards were compromised at the restaurant.

“We found that one staff member had attended all the customers who complained of disputed transactions," said Verma.

A team of police then laid a trap at the restaurant and noticed Pankaj’s activities. He was then arrested by police from the restaurant itself.

“During the course of interrogation, Pankaj revealed that he met a person named Rahul who taught him the use of screamer," said the senior police officer.

After being arrested, the accused revealed his modus-operandi. He disclosed that he used to re-swap the card of customer and note down the last four digit of the card, PIN and the bank name. He would then hand over the screamer, having the card details to Rahul.

The police said the duo didn’t use the cloned card for one month, so that customers won’t have doubts about the card being compromised from that particular restaurant.

“Total disputed amount of HDFC bank cards is about Rs 3,75,300. Other banks will also be contacted to ensure about the same fraudulent transactions," said Verma.

Police have got some vital clues from the technical surveillance and have got information about the other accused Rahul. He will be arrested soon, the police official said.