BAHAWALPUR: The law enforcement agencies have traced out the gang that was involved in hacking and stealing pin codes of credit and ATM cards in two districts of Bahawalpur division including Rahimyar Khan and Bahawalpur who later used them at online shopping or pin codes were sold out to Dubai and Sri Lanka.
In last month of November, a three-member gang was arrested from Shah Nawaz Colony in Rahimyar Khan city which was found involved in making fake ATM cards by stealing pin codes of original ATM cards.
On condition of anonymity, an official from a law enforcement agency which used to keep vigil on cybercrimes told APP here that during the investigation, it was disclosed that some other gangs were also engaged in stealing pin codes of credit and ATM cards both in Bahawalpur and Rahimyar Khan district.
“The gangs who had purchased hacking software from internet and also got IT devices used for making credit and ATM cards and installing pin codes in fake cards,” he said.
The official further disclosed that some personnel of Customs Service and Pakistan Post might be involved in the menace as IT devices were brought from other countries and customs service personnel did not stop them. “Some personnel of Pakistan Post might be part of the gangs as they also played their role in stealing pin codes from credit and ATM cards delivered from bank to customers in past,” they said.
He said that the gangs who hacked pin codes of credit and ATM cards used it in fake credit and ATM cards made on modern IT devices. “The new credit cards were used to purchase different items from online shopping sites,” he said, adding that the accused told the investigators that they avoided using those credit cards on “PayPal” and Amazon” where verification process was very strict.
The official said that the hackers also sold out those credit cards or their pin codes in Dubai and Sri Lanka where they were used at shopping malls or for other purposes. “The hackers who were traced out in Bahawalpur and Rahimyar Khan belonged to Faisalabad, Rahimyar Khan and other cities of Punjab,” he said, adding that it was also unveiled that hackers had their networks in Lahore, Islamabad, Karachi, Gujranwala, Faisalabad and some other cities.
The police arrested three suspects including two real brothers from a house situated in Shah Nawaz Colony in Rahimyar Khan city and recovered laptops, computers, blank ATM cards, modern IT devices and other material.
Meanwhile, State Bank of Pakistan has issued instructions to all banks to improve their system to save credit cards and ATM cards from hacking. “The banks have been discussing the ways to convert magnetic ATM card into chip card,” officials said, adding that stealing and hacking data from chip card was impossible.
