Chennai police arrested two Lankans for credit card fraud

Chennai police on Saturday arrested two Sri Lankan Tamils for defrauding a bank to the tune of Rs 5 lakh using forged international credit cards. The duo created fake credit cards using information stolen from foreign credit cards, mostly in London, through an accomplice.

The two arrested - S Navaneethan (28) and S Rajkumar (24) - are Sri Lankan natives living in Porur. Rajkumar had recently completed his graduation in commerce (B. Com) from a private college in Aminjikarai.

On getting clue from a leading mobile telephone showroom in Kodambakkam, officials of the Axis Bank laid a trap for the duo on Saturday. The employees of the showroom got suspicious after the two did purchasing on three consecutive days; they purchased mobile phones and electronic equipment worth about Rs 1.70 lakh. The duo did the payment through international credit cards.

On receiving information the Axis Bank officials, led by Ashok Kumar of the executive risk and fraud containment wing, laid a trap and waited at the showroom. The duo Navaneethan and Rajkumar, as usual, came to the showroom and were nabbed by the bank officials.

From the duo credit cards were seized and verification done. During enquiries it was revealed that Navaneethan and Rajkumar had been using the credit cards of many unknown persons, mainly of those living in London, to make expensive purchases. The accused were taken to the police commissioner's office and produced before the city police commissioner R Sekar.

Ashok Kumar officially lodged a complaint with the central crime branch. On the basis of complaint lodged by Ashok Kumar the bank fraud detection cell in the commissioner's office have registered a case and arrested the duo.

During the preliminary inquiries it became clear that the Navaneethan got the credit card details from another friend, who is now in London. Using this information the duo prepared fake cards at their residence and did purchasing of several electronic goods and household articles from several city showrooms.

"The two had been making such purchases for the past four months," an investigation officer said.

Moreover officials of another bank went with a complaint to the city police against the two persons, in their complaint the officials stated that the accused had gone to a star hotel in Nungambakkam and had spent nearly Rs 2 lakh there.

The police have discovered a television, refrigerator, two-wheeler, two mobile phones, three fake credit cards and a pen drive with data about credit cards from the hotel room. The arrested two have been remanded in judicial custody after being produced before the XI metropolitan magistrate court in Saidapet on Sunday.