Master forger of debit cards with ability of Bill Gates

The Crime Branch Unit II officials have arrested two men, both residents of Mira Road, who manufactured counterfeit debit cards and duped numerous expatriates, NRIs and people of Indian- origin living abroad, in the last three months.

Claiming that never in his career he has seen such a unique modus operandi, Joint Commissioner of Mumbai Police (Crime), Himanshu Roy, told media persons, “ The computer abilities of the accused, Shreyas Kothadiya, a school dropout, can be compared to that of Bill Gates.” The prime accused, 30- year- old Kothadiya, was previously jailed for 13 months for securing loans from banks with the help of forged documents. He was arrested with his brotherin- law Parag Parab (32).

The material seized from the duo includes 28 counterfeit debit cards of Mastercard, Visa, etc, a laptop, a Polaroid writer, 101 blank cards and a machine called Magnetic Software Recognition Writer, which is not easily available in India.

Explaining the procedure for making counterfeit cards, Roy said the accused had obtained blank cards in bulk from a factory in Panvel for Rs. 12 apiece. They had already installed software in their laptop with the requisite format of these debit cards.

Each debit card has some unique features for customer identification like name of the bank, name of the customer, a unique 15 digit card number and a magnetic strip at the back of the card with a secret 15 to 20 digit number stored inside it.

Roy said unidentified persons from overseas had messaged these unique features to the accused by mobile phones. “We suspect that the unique confidential information was secured by these criminals from abroad by creating duplicate web pages of online shopping sites like Amazon and E Bay.” Roy said.

Using the laptop, the accused typed this information on the card format and printed it on blank cards using the Polaroid writer. This is how a copy of the debit card was created.

The cards were further put through the MSRW machine, which inserted the 15 to 20 digit number inside the magnetic strip. The police are now investigating how and from where the accused brought the machine.

Lastly, explaining the usage of these cards, Roy said, the two accused targeted only male Indians living abroad. Also, they targeted countries like USA, with which India has a time difference of 8 hours.

Further, they made sure that they do not withdraw an amount exceeding Rs. 1 lakh as it would invite suspicion, and destroyed each card after using it once. They brought fast selling products like mobile phones, I-Pods, computer peripherals, etc, and then sold them in local markets.

Roy further said that they had obtained Pan cards by submitting a fake driving license and other relevant documents. Kothadiya inserted his photograph on the pan card with the name and other details of the victim. If an employee of a mall asked them for their personal details before a transaction, they produced these fake identification cards.

Another investigating official said, “ We suspect that some Nigerians provided the accused with the equipment and taught them the entire procedure too.” “ We received an oral complaint about these transactions after which we investigated the matter. They have been remanded in custody till March 29. We are now hunting for the other gang members in India and abroad,” said Roy.