Over 50 fall prey to cloning of ATM in Ggn's Cyber Park

Gurugram: In what could possibly be one of the most high profile ATM thefts in the Millennium City, money from the accounts of over 50 clients who used the HDFC ATM at Unitech Cyber Park has been stolen.

Worse even, more account holders are feared to have been robbed as their debit cards were cloned by thieves, who had hidden a chip at the prominent ATM.

The theft was carried out with a well-planned strategy and help from an insider, as the unidentified thieves put a chip inside the ATM at Unitech Cyber Park, a commercial building that houses various multinational companies.

The planning and execution by the robbers was so immaculate that after they placed the cloning chip somewhere around the last week of April, they later even removed the chip from the ATM without getting caught in the beginning of May.

As per complaints, the culprits have also carried out transactions in various places of the National Capital Region.

This is the second such incident in Gurugram, after a cloning device inside a PNB ATM in Civil Lines area was discovered by Gurugram Police.

To clone debit and credit cards, the culprits placed the device inside the PNB ATM, not visible to the ATM users. Numerous people frequent the ATM at Civil Lines and to ensure there was no room for error, the culprits placed the device exactly at the spot where the card is entered into the ATM.

They also placed a mirror image near the screen, where the PIN is entered, so that the device would also record the PIN. The device was uncovered by some bank employees during surveillance.

Credit and debit card fraud and data thefts are the most common complaints received at the Cyber Crime Branch of Gurugram Police.

Sources state that most cyber criminals do not belong to Gurugram and mostly rely on bank employees to get information of customers, which the employees either give away unintentionally or deliberately.

Officials in the Cyber Crime Branch highlight that contractual employees, new employees and insurance agents are the most common group of employees exploited by cyber criminals so as to access information of customers.

They further stated that many such employees even earn money by selling information of residents living in city condominiums.

This information is then used by criminals, cyber and otherwise, to try and dupe unsuspecting people.