16-yrs RI for man in credit card fraud

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Mumbai: A gang that used to duplicate international credit cards and use them for buying gold and electronics in several cities was convicted by a metropolitan court in Borivli.

Jaidevsingh Dhillon (43), Putrasingh Mani (52) and Manojkumar Pillai (29) have been sentenced to 16 years’ rigorous imprisonment and have been asked to pay Rs 30,000 as fine. Dhillon has worked as a policeman in Malaysia, officers said. The two masterminds, Raju and Nandan, are believed to be in France.

According to the police, the racket had been going on from 2001 to 2003. The masterminds, Raju and Nandan, used a cardreader to transfer vital data from international credit cards on to blank cards which are easily available in the grey market. These duplicate credit cards were sent to Dhillon, Mani and Pillai, whose would use them for shopping in departmental stores.

In Mumbai, the duplicate cards were used to buy jewellery, consumer durables and electronics at Khar, Chembur, Ghatkopar, Mulund, Andheri and Malad. The gang also used them in cities like Chennai, Hyderabad, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh and Vijaywada. “Genuine card-holders would be billed for the purchases made by the gang. The card-holders would inform their banks that such large purhcases were never made by them. Eventually, it was the card-issuing banks that incurred heavy losses,’’ said investigating officer Prakash Shishupal. The police recovered 14 duplicate international credit cards from the gang, besides two cellphone and Rs 8.5 lakh in cash.

In 2003, Dhillon jumpd bail and fled from the city. He then used some duplicate credit cards to purchase valuables in Chandigarh. Later, he changed his name and moved to Navi Mumbai where he ran a small hotel. For three years, he was on the run. In December 2006, the crime branch (unit V) managed to trace him and arrested him. “We recovered two television sets, computers, DVDs, printers and other valuables from Dhillon’s Malad office,’’ Shishupal said.

Mani and Pillai were convicted by a Borivli metropolitan court in August 2005. Dhillon was tried in the same case recently. Pillai also travelled overseas on a Canadian passport that he possessed in the name of Paul,’’ a police officer said.