CHENNAI: Swindling money for over a year from foreign accounts, the gang is suspected to have made several lakhs.
Prime suspect Reuban, arrested earlier in Madurai and in the city for similar offences, had been into this for almost three years now and had been running the racket from Madippakkam in the disguise of selling packaged drinking water.
Sporting a Toyota Innova, the gang turned it into a card cloning facility.
Any card with a magnetic strip and swiped in an Electronic Data Capture (EDC) Machine, was used to overwrite the stolen data. The gang had been using a membership card issued by a Computer Shop as well to clone cards.
Even a card with added security feature of a sim card had been cloned with data from overseas and used for purchase. They switched over to foreign accounts following the crack-down by the City Police.
Despite not having higher educational qualifications, the quintet proved to be quick learners.
From groceries, they purchased everything through the cloned cards.
An official privy to the investigation pointed out that the gang had in fact purchased 3 bags of rice from a super market in the city.