Card skimmed in City, transaction made in Karachi
Cardholder never visited Pakistan
In a shocking incident, a woman’s debit card was allegedly skimmed at a coffee shop on Lavelle Road and two transactions worth about Rs 19,000 were carried out at Karachi, Pakistan.
The Cubbon Park police are investigating a complaint lodged by Manas Ranjan Dash, Regional Manager, ICICI Bank, that a woman customer’s debit card was reportedly skimmed when she visited Barista Lavazza, a coffee shop on Lavelle Road on April 10. While skimming, a thief procures a victim’s credit/debit card number using basic methods like photocopying receipts, or through more advanced methods like using a small electronic device (skimmer) to swipe and store hundreds of victims’ credit card numbers. Common places for skimming are restaurants or bars where the skimmer has possession of the victim’s credit card out of their immediate view.
The victim, R Sudhalakshmi, was using the debit card issued along with her account number 016901507685. On April 3, she received an SMS detailing the two transactions which she never carried out. Upon inquiry, the bank stated that these transactions were performed using the card number 4731960169095901 at Computer HQ in Karachi, Pakistan on April 12. The first transaction was for Rs 13,155, while the second one resulted in the theft of Rs 5,481,60 from Sudhalakshmi’s account. Sudhalakshmi contended that she had not carried out the transactions as she had never been to Pakistan.
Her passport records also confirmed this. Later, when the bank authorities began digging into the details of her transactions, it emerged that Sudhalakshmi had visited the said coffee shop and made a purchase of Rs 364. Dash approached the police and lodged a complaint in which he suspected that ‘skimming might have taken place at the coffee shop.’
“The suspect probably collected confidential details from the card and carried out the transactions,“ he added. The matter is being investigated.
