Fraudster reveals secrets about how to steal data from bank cards

He can be called the 'clone-master' who has developed an 'extraordinarily skill' of making fake credit and debit cards to skim money from the cardholders' account.

Shariful Islam Mithu, 33,  revealed the secret methods of credit card frauds when he was arrested with 1,500 credit and debit cards he cloned to withdraw millions from different cash points.

He gained and honed this skill when he was in Russia.

After passing HSC tests from Gangni Degree College, Meherpur in 2003, he went to Russia for higher studies.

There he met a young man named Evanovich, who was an expert of credit card cloning.

In 2013, Mithu returned to Bangladesh and looked for a work where he can meet the card users and steal data and pin numbers.

He took jobs in a number of shopping malls and retail chain shops where people usually use credit and debit cards to make the purchase.

Every credit card has the magnetic stripe with personal data. To steal the data, he used an electronic device installed in his wristwatch.

When a customer entered the pin number at the time of purchase he used to give a furtive look to memorise the number. He would reprint the bill and note down the pin number in the copy of the bill.

After returning home, he cloned the cards using the data he copied in the secret device. He then used the card to withdraw money from the cash points. This way he has made millions.

When in the ATM booth, he used to wear wig and black glasses to dodge CCTV camera and police in case he was arrested.

According to police, before the arrest, his last workplace was the Banani branch of retail chain shop Shwapno.

Retail shop executives said Shariful has been absent from work at Banani branch since Mar 9. They had received scores of customer complaints against him.

Head of marketing of Shwapno Aftabul Karim Tanim, said, "We have noticed he often notes down something after customers leave. We have received a lot of complaints against him from the customers. We have reported the matter to the police.”

The police seized one of his accounts with Tk 1.5 million in it. They are also looking for other accounts.

“He led a luxurious life. His car has also been confiscated. He did all the frauds alone,” said Superintendent of CID Police Molla Nazrul Islam.

On Mar 10, he allegedly withdrew about Tk 2 million from around 50 ATMs.

Following complaints from customers, different banks informed the police about the financial frauds. The police started investigating the matter and found the lone fraudster withdrawing millions of takas with cloned cards.

Finally, they detained him from Mirpur early on Wednesday, CID SP Nazrul said.

In a news briefing on Wednesday, the CID narrated the scam story to journalists.

According to them, Shariful is accused of defrauding customers of five banks of millions of takas.

The police have seized 1,500 cloned credit and debit cards and devices from his possession.

Earlier, he was in jail for 18 months in two cases of financial fraud.

A Chinese national was held two years ago when he spent an unusually long time inside an ATM booth. He had two fellow Chinese accomplices, according to the police.

A European and several bank officials were also held over the fraud. 

In Bangladesh, around 10 million people are currently using credit cards, and around 60 million debit cards. Thirty-nine out of 57 banks are offering card services.

Bangladesh Bank has instructed all banks to offer chip-based cards by June 30 to prevent frauds through cloning.