CIB nabs three for ATM fraud

Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) under the Nepal Police has arrested three persons on the charge of withdrawing money and paying from other people's accounts using duplicate ATM cards.

"The CIB rounded up Kewal Prasad Rana of Lalitpur-13, Bir Bahadur Bohora aka Babi, Deepak K C aka Akash of Salyan of Madhyapur Thimi-15, and Naresh Kumar Agrawal of KMC-1, Naxal on charges of making payments with fake ATM cards," read the CIB press release issued here today.

Rana was picked up on Sunday from Saleways Department Store in Lalitpur when he was using a duplicate ATM card on its Point of Sales (PoS) machine, whereas the CIB nabbed Bohora and Agrawal from Kamal Pokhari in Kathmandu.

They have made duplicate ATM cards of various domestic and foreign banks and used to purchase goods from various department stores, it said, adding that they used to encode fake data by deleting original data in the magnetic stripe of ATM/Visa cards. "Rana was nabbed when he was making payment using a fake Visa card at a department store in Lalitpur-3 at around 8.00 pm on October 20."

The CIB also seized 18 ATM/Visa cards of various Nepali, Indian and Bahrain banks including Standard Charted Bank, Jyoti Development Bank, Nepal Investment Bank, Himalayan Bank and Bank of Kathmandu from them.

Apart from the duplicate ATM/Visa cards, the CIB also seized a machine used for encoding fake data in the ATM cards, magnetic card reader/encoder, laptop, CPU, charger, AC-DC adapter, pen drives, memory cards, SIM cards, watches, lighter, perfumes and alcohol from Bohora. "They had received new codes to use in ATM cards from a Nigerian national," added the CIB that has also seized a motorcycle (NA 24 PA 3984), two Visa cards of Nepal Investment Bank and Himalayan Bank issued in the name of Bohora, a Nabil Bank VISA card issued in the name of Thal Bahadur Bohora, tax invoice bill of Bhatbhateni Supermarket worth Rs 6,300, a mobile phone and wireless mouse from Bohora.

The police is looking for a Nigerian citizen with whom those arrested had a  number of email conversations. The police is trying to the find out whether the Nigerian national is operating from Nepal or outside

Meanwhile, the central bank has asked the banks and financial institutions to strengthen their security system and take measures to reduce operational risks. The central bank has also asked them to do a separate operational risks assessments and submit a report.