Farzi Cafe Employee Clones Customers’ Cards, Steals Over Rs 6 Lakh

The employee has been absconding and police registered an FIR based on a complaint filed by HDFC bank.

The employee has been absconding and police registered an FIR based on a complaint given by HDFC bank.

(Photo: Liju Joseph/The Quint)

On Thursday, an employee of Farzi Cafe in Connaught Place was booked for fraud, for the alleged cloning of debit and credit cards of customers. The employee carried out transactions worth Rs 6,03,500, as Hindustan Times reported.

The employee has been absconding and police have lodged an FIR based on a complaint filed by HDFC bank.

Police suspect a case of card cloning as transactions were done while the people had their cards and were not using them. When a credit card is cloned, the details are copied onto a dummy card through which transactions are done.

HDFC Bank gave us a complaint regarding cloning of debit card of their customers. They stated that some transactions were made from their accounts without their knowledge, that too at Farzi cafe. They mentioned at least 13 cases where these transaction were made. Based on the complaint, we have registered a case of cheating under Section 420 at Barakhamba police station and have identified the accused. The investigation is on. The arrest will soon be made

BK Singh, DCP New Delhi

The fraud was carried out on the cards of 13 customers, all of whom had visited Farzi Cafe in the past.

He used to take the debit card with him on the pretext of getting the card machines and cloned it. He then used to secretly watch the customer enter the PIN number and later used that pin to withdraw more cash. He had done it over 8-10 times... He mostly did it on weekends when the pub used to be crowded.

Senior Police Official

The case was first brought to the notice of police on 15 April by the cafe authorities and the suspect was identified as Mohammad Badrul Islam Barduiya.

We started an internal investigation as soon as the bank alerted us about the incidents. Through CCTV footages of our restaurant we were able to identify the suspect. He had been absconding for almost a month before the information even reached us. We tried several times to contact him, but we couldn’t. Barduiya is a native of Assam and had stopped showing up for work from mid-March.

Zorawar Kalra, Owner

Kalra said that the employee had attended to all the customers whose cards were cloned and CCTV footage also showed his behaviour to be suspicious.