The card reader seized from Leeanna’s Picnic Garden house

Leeanna’s seized passport next to one of the cloned cards

Footballer Benson Oladetan, Leeanna Jordasn and ‘husband’ Peter Orenubi, the alleged kingpin, at Lalbazar on Monday Pictures by Amit Datta

Two Nigerians and three Calcuttans have been arrested for a million-dollar credit card fraud using frighteningly easy-to-use technology to copy encrypted data from cards issued to customers in the US and clone them for use across continents.

The series of arrests began at Calcutta airport late on Sunday with the arrival of the suspected kingpin, 37-year-old Nigerian Peter Orenubi Oluwagbenga, from Lagos via Dubai.

The rest of the gang — footballer Benson Oladetan Adams, Peter’s Anglo-Indian “wife” Leeanna Jordasn, sari scion Manish Agarwal and commerce student Ankit Shaw — were picked up from different locations through the night.

The police seized, from Leeanna’s Picnic Garden residence, a “credit card reader” the size of a barcode scanner that was used to steal encrypted data on the magnetic strips at the back of cards. They also found a bunch of cards issued by various banks, including ICICI, HDFC, Centurion and Citibank, but containing encrypted data stolen from those issued in the US.

“It’s a mindboggling fraud spanning not only continents but also involving a huge amount of money that we suspect could exceed a million dollars (approximately Rs 4.5 crore),” said a senior officer at Shakespeare Sarani police station, where ICICI Bank lodged a complaint on February 23.

A special team of officers comprising Soumya Banerjee, Nilkantha Roy, Ayan Bhowmik and Mriganka Das cracked the case but Damayanti Sen, the chief of the detective department, wouldn’t disclose how. “We are still at it. More people and more money might be involved,” she said.

Representatives of ICICI Bank declined to reveal whether complaints from US-based banks about its payment gateway being illegally used prompted the complaint.

The accused had apparently employed a technique called “skimming”, which entails using the small card-reading gadget to surreptitiously copy data from cards while they are being taken for swiping at payment counters in merchant establishments, mainly restaurants. Even the most primitive versions of these card readers, illegally available on some foreign Internet sites, can store up to 3,200 swipes to memory.

Once the copied data is transferred to a computer, a hacking software decodes the encrypted customer information and either replaces the data in a legitimate card issued by some other bank or transfers it to a fake “blank card” — said to be easily available in China, Taiwan and Bangladesh.

According to the police, Peter’s contacts in the US would help him steal data from credit card holders there. The Nigerian would then mail this data to his associate Benson — biding time in Calcutta as a footballer playing for fringe clubs on the Maidan — and his alleged wife of convenience, Leeanna.

Manish, one of the two local youths arrested along with the trio, allegedly got involved in the racket after Peter met him in his father’s Camac Street sari shop during one of his previous visits to the city. Ankit joined the gang at the behest of Manish, who is his neighbour in Mullickbazar.

“Ankit, being a GNIIT diploma holder, knew software technology well enough to master skimming rather easily. He and Manish not only helped the Nigerian duo and Leeanna steal card data but were also the designated users of the cloned cards in Calcutta,” said a police officer.

The gang would restrict their purchases to high-end cellphones, including the iPhone, and jewellery because these were easy to sell. Apart from Calcutta, these purchases were made in Mumbai, Patna, Durgapur and Asansol. The police have so far traced around Rs 23 lakh worth of fraudulent purchases, though the total amount credit card holders have lost could be several times more.

“Peter would be on the move, shuttling between different countries, including Bangladesh, where it seems he was trying to set up a base. He had married Leeanna two years ago and used her residence as the card-cloning control room. On Saturday, he boarded a flight from Lagos at 1am and reached Calcutta via Dubai on Sunday night. We were waiting for him,” said an investigating officer.

The police are trying to trace Peter’s “recruits” in other cities, including Chennai, Mumbai, Asansol, Durgapur and Patna.

The Central Crime Branch officials of Chennai had recently arrested Sanjeev Kanth, a Sri Lankan national in Alapakkam on similar charges. Cops claimed 25-year-old Kanth, a commerce graduate, had stolen data from different credit cards with the help of friends living abroad and then used it on other cards to make hefty purchases.

THE GANG

Peter Orenubi Oluwagbenga, Nigerian
Benson Oladetan Adams, Nigerian footballer
Leeanna Jordasn, resident of Picnic Garden
Manish Agarwal, son of sari shop owner
Ankit Shaw, commerce student

MODUS OPERANDI

Kingpin’s contacts in retail outlets and restaurants in US would use ‘card readers’ to steal encrypted data from magnetic strips of credit cards while taking these for swiping

Decoded data would be mailed to contacts in Calcutta to overwrite data on legitimate cards issued in India

Cloned cards would be used to buy jewellery and expensive phones, while card subscribers in US would be billed for the purchases

PLAY YOUR CARDS SAFE

Check your credit card bills carefully to detect purchases you may not have made

Report any discrepancy in bill to card issuer immediately

Opt for SMS alerts for every card transaction you make

Insist on your card being swiped in front of you

Destroy a card if you have decided not to use it anymore or if its validity is over

SHOPS & RESTAURANTS MUST

Check the last four digits in a charge slip with that on the card. If the card is cloned, the numbers won’t match

Insist on ID cards for high-value transactions

Call bank helpline at the slightest doubt