2 including Turkish citizen arrested for ATM fraud
Hakan, who is one of the masterminds of the international ATM card cloning scam visited various booths of Eastern Bank Limited from 2 to 4 January and tried to withdraw money 84 times with cloned cards
The Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police arrested two members of an international ATM card cloning racket, who escaped from Indian police custody.
The arrestees are Turkish national Hakan Zanburkan, 55, and Md Mafiul Islam.
The duo was arrested from Gulshan-1 area of Dhaka in a special operation on Tuesday, said CTTC chief Md Asaduzzaman at a press conference on Wednesday (19 January).
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According to the CTTC chief, Hakan, allegedly one of the masterminds of the international ATM card cloning scam, visited various booths of Eastern Bank Limited (EBL) from 2 to 4 January and tried to withdraw money 84 times using multiple cloned cards from different countries.
"However, Eastern Bank's anti-scamming technology alerted the bank authority through alarm systems and prevented hackers," said Deputy Inspector General Asaduzzaman.
During primary interrogation, police found out that Hakan, along with another Turkish national and two Bangladeshis, were arrested in an ATM scam case in the Assam state of India in 2019.
The racket had embezzled nearly 10 lakh rupees there.
"After serving sentence for about 20 months, he (Hakan) managed to escape while undergoing treatment in police custody at Govind Ballabh Pant Hospital in Agartala," Asaduzzaman added.
Preliminary interrogation revealed that several Bangladeshis and citizens of different countries, including Turkey, Bulgaria, Mexico and India, are involved in the racket.
A case has been filed against the arrestees under the Digital Security Act with the Paltan police station.
Commenting on the scam attempt, EBL Communications and External Affairs Head Ziaul Karim said, "EBL through their state of art and robust security system together with its 24 hours ATM surveillance including frequent physical visits to ATM booth have ensured enhanced protection of its over 200 ATM's across the country, providing ample safety to customers transaction."
EBL ATM's are fully protected with anti-malware, anti-skimming and enhanced firewall protection using the latest technology, he added.
"EBL achieved PCI DSS certification for the sixth time which is mandated by the card brands and administered by the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council," Ziaul told The Business Standard.
