How 2 frauds used Delhi Metro to steal lakhs

Two youths, a fifth standard passout among them, allegedly siphoned off lakhs of rupees by recharging online Metro Travel Cards using illegally obtained credit card details and then redeeming them for cash from DMRC counters. The duo - R Balaji (19) and Bala Sunder (29), who has studied only till class five - came under the police radar after SBI Cards and Payment Services Private Limited reported that it has received a number of complaints from their credit card holders who had not made such online transactions for Metro cards, but were paying for them.

During investigation it was found that three Metro Travel Cards had been recharged by fraudulently using SBI card details, the police said.

‘Following this, the DMRC staff was alerted to keep a tab on the three cards. Finally, R Balaji was apprehended at the gate of Tilak Nagar Metro Station on Friday when he came to redeem a card,’ Deputy Commissioner of Police (Railways) Sanjay Bhatia said.

On Balaji’s disclosure, his associate Bala Sunder was arrested and two metro cards, which were also recharged by fraudulently using credit card details, were recovered from his possession, said Bhatia. Balaji was working as a verifier in a call centre, while Sunder, who has studied only till class five, had worked in different call centres for two years and was currently unemployed.

During interrogation, Sunder told the police that he used to collect vital details of SBI card holders like card numbers, expiry date, CVV Code and one time password (OTP) by calling them from call centres on the pretext of selling them their products.

He then purchased Metro Travel Cards for Rs 100 and recharged them online up to the maximum limit of Rs 1,000 with the details of SBI Card holders obtained fraudulently. He would then redeem the total value of the card from DMRC counters either himself or through his associate, police said. In this process, the two had siphoned off lakhs of rupees from the accounts of several SBI card holders. Investigation is being conducted to ascertain the total amount of fraud.