Software expert held in credit card fraud

A software professional, S.V.N. Rajesh, who misused credit cards belonging to others, to the tune of Rs. 20 lakh was arrested by city police on Friday.

He was also planning to commit an online fraud using duplicate credit cards secured from Japan, the Commissioner’s Task Force DCP V. B. Kamalasan Reddy told reporters. A laptop, a scanner-cum-printer, several fake driving licenses and PAN cards, credit cards and a car were seized from him.

A graduate in computer applications from East Godavari, the 27-year-old worked as faculty member at different institutes in Delhi before setting up a software development company in Hyderabad two years ago. Not satisfied with the money he was making, Rajesh resorted to the fraud, the DCP said.

Rajesh had set up an office of Direct Sales Agency in Hyderabad for marketing credit cards of different banks. He appointed four executives and an office boy. The executives used to call individuals at random and inquire if they wanted any credit cards.

In the process, they gathered personal details of 140 individuals. While passing on the data to the banks, he retained particulars of few persons possessing premium category credit cards. After hiring a house in a posh locality, he started calling up select banks claiming that he was their credit card customer, using the credit card particulars he had retained, and place requests for change of address. “As details like date of birth and existing address were available with him, he managed to convince them and get the address changed,” the DCP explained. Using the new address, he would apply for add-on cards or credit cards of other banks.

He bought gold coins from jewellery shops amounting nearly Rs. 20 lakh using the cards thus procured. Rajesh never withdrew money from ATM centres fearing that his photos recorded by the secret cameras might lead to his arrest. The accused had also procured 10 international duplicate credit cards by placing online order with agents based in Japan. Using these cards, he wanted to transfer money online from those cards into his account. But his plans went awry after Task Force North Zone team nabbed him on a tip-off.