India: Police nab 2 Nigerians, 3 Indians scammers
12 March, 2010 05:33:00 UCHENNA AJAH with agency report
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Two Nigerians and three Calcuttans have been arrested over a million-dollar credit card fraud using easy-to-use technology to copy encrypted data from cards issued to customers in the United States (US) and clone them for use across continents.
The arrest of the suspects began at Calcutta airport, India late last Sunday with the arrival of the suspected kingpin, 37-year-old Nigerian Peter Oluwagbenga, from Lagos via Dubai.
The other suspects including a footballer Benson Oladetan Adams, Peter’s Anglo-Indian “wife” Leeanna Jordasn, Sari Scion Manish Agarwal and Commerce student Ankit Shaw — were picked up from different locations later.
The police seized from Leeanna’s Picnic Garden residence, a “credit card reader” the size of a barcode scanner that was used to steal encrypted data on the magnetic strips at the back of cards. They also found a bunch of cards issued by various banks including ICICI, HDFC, Centurion and Citibank, but containing encrypted data stolen from those issued in the US.
“It’s a mind-boggling fraud spanning not only continents but also involving a huge amount of money that we suspect could exceed a million dollars (approximately Rs 4.5 crore),” said a senior officer at Shakespeare Sarani police station, where ICICI Bank lodged a complaint on February 23.
A special team of officers comprising Soumya Banerjee, Nilkantha Roy, Ayan Bhowmik and Mriganka Das cracked the case but Damayanti Sen, the chief of the detective department, wouldn’t disclose how. “We are still at it. More people and more money might be involved,” she said.
Representatives of ICICI Bank declined to reveal whether complaints from US-based banks about its payment gateway being illegally used prompted the complaint.
The suspects were alleged to have used a technique called “skimming”, which entails using the small card-reading gadget to surreptitiously copy data from cards while they are being taken for swiping at payment counters in merchant establishments, mainly restaurants in the scam.
According to the police, Oluwagbenga’s contacts in the US would help him steal data from credit card holders there. The Nigerian would then mail this data to his associate Benson —in Calcutta as a footballer playing for fringe clubs on the Maidan — and his alleged wife of convenience, Leeanna.
Manish, one of the two local youths arrested along with the trio, allegedly got involved in the racket after Oluwagbenga met him in his father’s Camac Street sari shop during one of his previous visits to the city. Ankit joined the gang at the request of Manish, who is his neighbour in Mullickbazar.
“Ankit, being a GNIIT diploma holder, knew software technology well enough to master skimming rather easily. He and Manish not only helped the Nigerian duo and Leeanna steal card data but were also the designated users of the cloned cards in Calcutta,” said a police officer.
The gang would restrict their purchases to high-end cellphones, including the iPhone, and jewellery because these were easy to sell. Apart from Calcutta, these purchases were made in Mumbai, Patna, Durgapur and Asansol. The police have so far traced around Rs 23 lakh worth of fraudulent purchases, though the total amount credit card holders have lost could be several times more.
“Peter has been on the move, shuttling between different countries, including Bangladesh, where it seems he was trying to set up a base. He had married Leeanna two years ago and used her residence as the card-cloning control room. Last Saturday, he boarded a flight from Lagos at 1am and reached Calcutta via Dubai on Sunday night. We were waiting for him,” said an investigating officer.
The police are trying to trace Peter’s “recruits” in other cities, including Chennai, Mumbai, Asansol, Durgapur and Patna.
The Central Crime Branch officials of Chennai had recently arrested Sanjeev Kanth, a Sri Lankan national in Alapakkam on similar charges. Cops claimed 25-year-old Kanth, a Commerce graduate, had stolen data from different credit cards with the help of friends living abroad and then used it on other cards to make hefty purchases.

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^^OP,

Ans so what is your point here. Am tempted to call you an idiot.

ilugunboy:

^^OP,

Ans so what is your point here. Am tempted to call you an idiot.

i know what the a s s h o l e is trying to point out anyways lets see how it goes.

ilugunboy:

^^OP,

Ans so what is your point here. Am tempted to call you an idiot.

~Bluetooth:

i know what the a s s h o l e is trying to point out anyways lets see how it goes.

Pls can you tell us what he's trying to point out?

Our name is at stake, can't we run away from evil? Let us help our selves

Ilugun rat and Big tooth= cry babies