Three more Chinese nationals suspected of ATM skimming fraud arrested, Rs 2.3 million recovered

KARACHI: “Another three Chinese nationals suspected of ATM skimming fraud have been arrested in Karachi while 2.3 million and 350 ATM cards have been recovered from their possession,” Clifton Police Superintendent (SP) Dr Asad Malhi said on Sunday.

Dr Malhi told the media that the police had made the arrests after receiving regarding suspicious activities of a group of Chinese men in Defence phase-II on Saturday night, however, two of their accomplices managed to escape.

The SP said that according to their initial analysis, the group is believed to be a part of an organised gang that hires young Chinese men for skimming frauds. “The suspects were handed over to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA),” he informed.

Following this incident, the number of Chinese men arrested in relation to ATM skimming frauds in Karachi has risen up to six. Earlier in the week, two Chinese men were arrested for allegedly concealing a skimming device at a Habib Bank Ltd ATM machine in Zainab Market while another was arrested in Bahadurabad on Sunday.

Skimmers are physical devices that are installed over ATM card slots and can read the data of the magnetic strips.

Incidents of skimming seem to have become recurrent and widespread after the first incident in 2016. Frauds have been reported in  Rawalpindi and Azad Jammu, Kashmir ─ with a bank confirming in December 2017 that over Rs 10 million had been stolen from 559 of its accounts. A bank executive told the media that the transactions had been traced to Indonesia, China, and other countries.