Delhi: Cops Bust Credit Card Racket, One Held

The Delhi Police arrested a 21-year-old man in connection with a credit card racket, officials said on Tuesday.

The accused has been identified as Tushar Tyagi, a resident of Mandawali. According to the police, Tyagi cheated people by collecting their credit card information on the pretext of redeeming their card points.

According to the police Tyagi operated along with another accused Vishal alias Shubham. The two met while playing PUBG and devised the credit card racket during lockdown, police said.

The racket came to light after an advocate, Sadab Khan, lodged a complaint at Malviya Nagar police station claiming that he had been cheated after receiving a text message on his mobile phone to redeem his credit cards points.

As soon as he clicked on the given web link and entered his card details, he lost Rs 1 lakh from his credit card, police said.

“During investigation, it was revealed that the accused had used spoofed SMS services to send phishing messages of credit card points’ redemption. Police found that the cheated amount had been credited first in an e-wallet account and then it was used for purchasing gift vouchers of a multi-brand electronic store," Deputy Commissioner of Police (south) Atul Kumar Thakur said.

The e-wallet account was opened by providing fake IDs, police said.

Police informed the electronic store in located Kota, Rajsthan, from where the gift vouchers were obtained in different names, they said. Police had the numbers of the vouchers and alerted the manager of the store about them, they said.

The store has many branches across India. The accused redeemed vouchers and when Tyagi came to take delivery on Sunday at Preet Vihar branch, the store staff apprehended him and handed him over to police, police said.

Interrogation revealed that during the coronavirus lockdown, Tyagi came in contact with one Vishal alias Shubham while playing PUBG game and they became friends, Thakur said.

Initially, Shubham provided game accessories to Tyagi and was talking to him through voice over internet protocol (VOIP) calls, the DCP said.

When their friendship developed, Shubham informed him that he works in credit and debit cards phishing and has good knowledge on how to earn easy money in cyberspace, police said.

He offered Tyagi 20 percent commission on the sale of his purchased items. In January 2021, Shubham asked Tyagi to collect his smartphones from the stores and to sell them in open market, they said.

After keeping his commission of 20 percent, he had to deposit the remaining amount to Shubham’s wallet and bank account. He has deposited around Rs 2 lakh in Shubham's account till now, police said.

Efforts are being made to apprehend Shubham, they said.

Police recovered 15 smartphones, including 9 iPhones, from Tyagi’s possession, they added.

(With PTI inputs)