CHENNAI: In what could be the tip of an international card skimming racket, a Romanian national was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly installing a skimmer device (which can read data on the magnetic strip behind ATM cards) in an ATM at a fuel bunk on Anna Salai near Guindy.
Police identified him as Irimia Iniot and are looking out for two of his accomplices. Police sources said initial probe showed that he had reached the city a week ago and was staying at Uthandi on East Coast Road.
Police stumbled upon the suspected card skimming racket after the staff of the cash logistics company noticed the skimmer in Canara Bank’s ATM (at a petrol bunk next to the SPIC building) when they were trying to load cash on Monday afternoon. They noticed that the dip card reader in the ATM was not working smoothly and a closer examination showed that a skimmer had been installed, police said.
The company officials alerted police. On examining the CCTV footage recorded by the ATM, two foreign nationals were suspected. “On Sunday evening, the two foreign nationals had spent longer than usual inside the ATM. They were seen installing the device inside the machine,” police said. A police team laid a trap expecting the two to return to the ATM to retrieve the device. The suspects were arrested when they came to the ATM around 7.30 pm on Monday. “One among them managed to flee and we caught the other person,” police said.