Police arrested three persons including a Nigerian for credit card fraud

Mumbai police on Friday arrested three persons including a Nigerian for duping a shop selling mobile phones by using international credit cards.

The accused were caught when they went to the same shop for the second time in less than three days.

As per the police sources accused had the knowledge about the clearing of the payments that the payments made through international credit cards were cleared after more than 24 hours and they used this delay to dupe a retail chain.

Four persons, including two Nigerians, on Wednesday, went to the Mobile Store at Marol Maroshi in Andheri and bought an i-pod and three mobile phones worth Rs85, 547 using credit cards.

But the amount didn’t get credited to the shop’s account therefore manager Ketan Bareya alerted his employees, who got the accused arrested when they visited the shop for the second time.

Police has recovered a total of 11 international credit cards of several banks from the trio the main suspect Iyo Kayode (30), a Nigerian, and co-accused Mukesh Atiya (27) and Kalpesh Kachariya (21) - both graduates and residents of Goregaon. Police is still looking for their fourth accomplice, Steve Watson — a Nigerian.

The trio has been booked on charges of cheating, forging and common intention under the Indian Penal Code and has been remanded in police custody till June 19.

“On Wednesday, two youths came to the shop and selected an i-pod and three mobile phones. After selecting the items, they called two Nigerians who were waiting outside the shop and Watson made the payment through a credit card which he claimed was his,” Bareya said.

Bareya told the police when the money wasn’t credited into his account even after a day, he alerted his employees. “A day later, the accused again called up at the shop to enquire whether we had any costly mobile phones. They then visited the shop, selected a few mobile phones and placed the credit card for payment. The first two cards declined payment. Not letting them get the whiff of our suspicion, we made them wait in the shop and informed the police,” Bareya said.

The accused have duped around 20 branches of The Mobile Store in the city. “Nigerians were involved in all the fraud transactions and they had duped the store of Rs15 lakh over a month or two,” Bareya said.

“Atiya, who owns a mobile phone shop in Goregaon, befriended the Nigerians this year when they visited his shop. The Nigerians offered him a mobile phone for every con,” said senior inspector Rajdoot Rupwate of the Powai police station. Rupwate told Atiya at used to sell the handsets bought from Nigerians.

Sub-inspector Sanjay Joshi told Atiya and Kachariya used to finalize the deal, while Kayode and Watson paid using forged credit cards.

“According to the banks’ rule, if a person shops for over Rs10, 000 on credit card heshe has to submit an identity proof to the shop. We are verifying whether the cards recovered are actually owned by someone living outside India. Investigations are on to find their involvement in other such cases,” said Joshi.