2 Indians arrested, 1778 forged ATM cards seized

Dubai, Mar 19 (UNI) Two Indians and a Malaysian national have been arrested here for allegedly withdrawing money from ATM machines by using forged cards.

As many as 1,778 forged ATM cards have been seized from them, the Gulf News reportd quoting Director of Dubai Police's CID, Major General Khamis Mattar Al Mazeina, as saying.

The suspects had fed the magnetic strips of the cards with account numbers registered for customers in banks of a European country. The cards were then used to withdraw money from cash machines here.

The local banks were the biggest losers in the process because the owners of the account numbers did not exist in the UAE.

An employee of a national bank in the UAE, while feeding currency to the bank's ATM machine, noticed frequent withdrawals made through the ATM cards of foreign bank account numbers.

The Criminal Investigation Department of Dubai Police was informed and a close watch was kept on the bank's ATMs.

One of the accused was nabbed on February 2 while trying to withdraw money from an ATM machine. As many as 15 forged ATM cards were found in his possession.

On information provided by him, the CID team managed to arrest the other two. The Malaysian national is believed to be the mastermind of the racket. The third person arrested possessed 1,778 forged cards with magnetic strips that had account numbers from banks outside the UAE.

The team also seized a number of laptops which carried secret account numbers in addition to a number of electronic devices and mobile phones which were bought with the withdrawn amounts. Devices used to print information and numbers on magnetic strips and mini cameras used to steal secret numbers were also seized.

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