With an MS degree in cyber & computer forensics from London, Kamal was in demand among tech firms. But a chance telephone intercept by the cops led to the revelation that he was the kingpin of a gang which cheated thousands and looted crores of rupees
Palavarma Kamal Kumar is the kind of guy every company would want on board. The 28-year-old has an MS degree in cyber and computer forensics from London, and his clients once included hundreds of multinational companies across the world. In fact, the hacker was such a success that a company’s data and security systems were considered secure if Kamal failed to breach them. But now, the very same Kamal is behind bars in Bangalore, on charges of being the mastermind behind the skimming scam worth crores that was front-paged in Bangalore Mirror (You better avoid taking cash out of unguarded ATMs, Feb 17, 2012).
“I am really surprised to know that Kamal Kumar who did his MS from London was into this illegal business,” deputy commissioner of police (South) Sonia Narang told Bangalore Mirror. “His arrest has proved no one is above the law. This is a lesson for people who think they can carry out criminal activities without getting caught. One day or the other, the law will catch up.”
The arrest
It was a chance telephone call that blew Kamal’s lid. One of his accomplices, Ajay Lal, had a girlfriend in Hyderabad who was implicated in a cheating case. Hyderabad police were following her movements by tapping her mobile phone. They couldn’t believe their ears when they heard Ajay telling her not to worry about money and talking about their skimming operations in Bangalore and Hyderabad. The cops realised that they had stumbled on something bigger and started tapping Lal’s phone. And soon they knew all the details about Kamal and his other associates. They contacted the Bangalore police, and in a joint operation Kamal, along with web designer Zameer Shaikh and Ajay, was arrested.
The kingpin
Kamal, a native of Guntur in Andhra Pradesh, comes from a good family. His father owned a garment store in Vijayawada and his engineer brother is settled in the US. After his schooling, Kamal completed his bachelor’s degree in information technology in Vijayawada and MBA in Hyderabad. Even in college, Kamal was interested in hacking and spent a lot of time learning the art. He even joined many underground forums. He started two software companies in Hyderabad, but shut down both in 2011 when he ran into losses. In between, he provided consultancy services in security systems to MNCs all over the world.
Every deal is a steal
Police sources said that following his arrest Kamal said, “I used to visit websites which provide illegal information to make quick money and registered with them. Through these websites, I came in contact with web designer Zameer Shaikh from Mumbai and Ammar Ali from Bihar. I got more information and guidance from Kronik alias Sura, a Canadian resident, regarding collection of data of debit/credit card holders, skimming and cloning. As part of a deal, we started skimming operations and called it ‘Every Deal is a Steal’.
“We started this in a mall in Madhapur last year. We offered free mobile recharge worth 250 on swiping the debit card for 50. We collected the encrypted data of some 250 customers, but stopped when the mall management objected.”
There were other projects. In Jharkhand, they started a Petro Card scheme from which they collected data of nearly 700 cards. But by this time, Kronik started demanding a higher cut. “We felt it unworthy and we did not pay his share and discarded him.” Then, the bigger project took off — with Kamal and Ajay from Hyderabad, Zameer and Afroze from Mumbai, Sonu from Delhi and Shafi from Lucknow. “I was the leader,” he sdaid.
Operation Bangalore
“We took technical help from Alex Rosenberg of Russia,” Kamal said. They ordered four skimmers, each worth 3 lakh, from Russia. They set up the skimming lab in a rented house at Motinagar and got ATM/Point of Sale (POS) skimmers, magnetic card writers (from China), printers, CCTV cameras, keyboards, liquid plastic material, microchips, laptops and material required for cloning the cards.
On January 21 and 23 this year, Sonu, Ajay and Aman reached Bangalore and surveyed different ATMs in Bangalore and settled for a few Canara bank ATMs in J P Nagar, Jaya Nagar, Tilak Nagar, R T Nagar and Cubbon Park limits and one Corporation Bank ATM at Corporation circle.
“Zameer and I reached Bangalore on Jan 27. We gave them the skimmers on Jan 28 which they installed along with a small sting camera at a Canara Bank ATM at R T Nagar, at East End main road in Jayanagar and one more in Jayanagar 4th Block. On Jan 29 and 30, and Feb 2, we installed skimmers at many more ATMs in these areas. We also monitored movement at ATMs and a few days after the installation, collected the data of debit cards belonging to thousands. We downloaded the data to a laptop and gave it to Zameer for further analysis and processing. I then sent the skimmed data to a Russian seller using a file-sharing website since emails are risky. Once he downloaded the data, he deleted it from the website. In a day, we received the decrypted data and Zameer and I analysed it, matching it with the timing of the password. It was completed on Feb 4. Then, we started preparing cloned cards of Canara Bank with the help of a magnetic card reader. We prepared the cards in a day and on Feb 5 and 6, we withdrew Rs 40 lakh from different ATMs at M G Road, Church Street, Ganga Nagar, R T Nagar, Peenya, J P Nagar, Rajaji Nagar and many other localities. Then, we hired an Innova and went to Hyderabad.”
They then went to Pune and withdrew around 4.5 lakh on Feb 7 and 8. “We returned to Hyderabad and shared the cash between us. We even sent the cloned cards to London so that my friends could withdraw money there,” he told police.
“We used to travel by air and I bought an Audi car with the money I got and shifted to a posh house at Hyderabad. The skimming continued all the while – in Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, and Vijayawada. We also gave Alex his share of cash and ordered for more skimmers,” Kamal told police.
Bangalore police said no one knows why such a brilliant man became a cheat. According to them, he needed big money as he had borrowed lakhs from different people.
“It is shocking how a person with so much talent can do this. People should be careful and banks should also take necessary measures to improve security in ATMs,” Sonia Narang said.
Be afraid
In his statement to the cops, Kamal revealed that when he asked Alex Rosenberg in Russia for more skimming machines, he declined as he had many more orders, mainly from India. It means that there are many other such gangs active in India.
Police said that the gang chose Canara Bank ATMs as majority of them do not have security guards. The cops are planning to talk to the bank officials to look at the security aspects.
NEW UPDATE ON THIS STORY.
1. Ajay Gf is referred to $1000+ prostitute from Hyderabad, India , not is girl friend
2. Her gf demanded more money to clear her old dues with many people including low level cops which she was suppose to bribe.
3. Mastermind Kamal took out over of $71,000 in span of just 6 months from 2 cities.
4. main targeted atms were residential areas
5. As I live in same city,on an avg these atms had footfall of 30-60 customers per day.
6. Master mind Kamal came in radar for owning a luxury villa on rent ( $ 4,500 rent per month , with over $26,000 of Security deposit)
Later on investigation cops found out that many people in touch with Master Mind Kamal was already doubting that Kamal is doing
something illegal owning Audi and the luxury life he had.
* These points were just updated by fellow partner from Master Mind origin city.
* Notes to Indian and other new skimmers hackers. DO NOT FCKING UNDER ESTIMATE COPS. THINK IF U WERE THE COP THEN?
F.Y.I : Indian Cyber cell, Pune , India and Mumbai Cyber cell has hired many carders and hackers officially and unofficial on project basis to investigate/undercover agents to bust carders like us.
Personal research data :
Gangs busted related to skimming only.
2007-2010 - 3-4 per year avg.
2011 = over 6 gangs across India.
2012 = Already 4 gangs, involving over 70 people.
Biggest Bust of the Indian History in Skimming : 40 agents + 5 masterminds , busted in Gujrat , India
12 people busted red handed in hotel during raids and tracking.
over 167 blanks were found.
Huge amount of cash, no exact data revealed yet by cops.
Investigations and RBI ( Reserve Bank of India ) is working on something new to avoid skimming .
This article is not to demotivate you or scare you.
All the events happened because carders became way too greedy after getting their first few cashouts and expanding their business compromising the security measures.
In India, its a saying " You do theft 1 time,2 time,3 time,4 time..100's of time, but it takes only 1 time to get fucked forever "
And I'm sure you don't want that wooden PayPal of cops going into your ass for real.If you want to get fucked, hire a gay rather
Palavarma Kamal Kumar is the kind of guy every company would want on board. The 28-year-old has an MS degree in cyber and computer forensics from London, and his clients once included hundreds of multinational companies across the world. In fact, the hacker was such a success that a company’s data and security systems were considered secure if Kamal failed to breach them. But now, the very same Kamal is behind bars in Bangalore, on charges of being the mastermind behind the skimming scam worth crores that was front-paged in Bangalore Mirror (You better avoid taking cash out of unguarded ATMs, Feb 17, 2012).
“I am really surprised to know that Kamal Kumar who did his MS from London was into this illegal business,” deputy commissioner of police (South) Sonia Narang told Bangalore Mirror. “His arrest has proved no one is above the law. This is a lesson for people who think they can carry out criminal activities without getting caught. One day or the other, the law will catch up.”
The arrest
It was a chance telephone call that blew Kamal’s lid. One of his accomplices, Ajay Lal, had a girlfriend in Hyderabad who was implicated in a cheating case. Hyderabad police were following her movements by tapping her mobile phone. They couldn’t believe their ears when they heard Ajay telling her not to worry about money and talking about their skimming operations in Bangalore and Hyderabad. The cops realised that they had stumbled on something bigger and started tapping Lal’s phone. And soon they knew all the details about Kamal and his other associates. They contacted the Bangalore police, and in a joint operation Kamal, along with web designer Zameer Shaikh and Ajay, was arrested.
The kingpin
Kamal, a native of Guntur in Andhra Pradesh, comes from a good family. His father owned a garment store in Vijayawada and his engineer brother is settled in the US. After his schooling, Kamal completed his bachelor’s degree in information technology in Vijayawada and MBA in Hyderabad. Even in college, Kamal was interested in hacking and spent a lot of time learning the art. He even joined many underground forums. He started two software companies in Hyderabad, but shut down both in 2011 when he ran into losses. In between, he provided consultancy services in security systems to MNCs all over the world.
Every deal is a steal
Police sources said that following his arrest Kamal said, “I used to visit websites which provide illegal information to make quick money and registered with them. Through these websites, I came in contact with web designer Zameer Shaikh from Mumbai and Ammar Ali from Bihar. I got more information and guidance from Kronik alias Sura, a Canadian resident, regarding collection of data of debit/credit card holders, skimming and cloning. As part of a deal, we started skimming operations and called it ‘Every Deal is a Steal’.
“We started this in a mall in Madhapur last year. We offered free mobile recharge worth 250 on swiping the debit card for 50. We collected the encrypted data of some 250 customers, but stopped when the mall management objected.”
There were other projects. In Jharkhand, they started a Petro Card scheme from which they collected data of nearly 700 cards. But by this time, Kronik started demanding a higher cut. “We felt it unworthy and we did not pay his share and discarded him.” Then, the bigger project took off — with Kamal and Ajay from Hyderabad, Zameer and Afroze from Mumbai, Sonu from Delhi and Shafi from Lucknow. “I was the leader,” he sdaid.
Operation Bangalore
“We took technical help from Alex Rosenberg of Russia,” Kamal said. They ordered four skimmers, each worth 3 lakh, from Russia. They set up the skimming lab in a rented house at Motinagar and got ATM/Point of Sale (POS) skimmers, magnetic card writers (from China), printers, CCTV cameras, keyboards, liquid plastic material, microchips, laptops and material required for cloning the cards.
On January 21 and 23 this year, Sonu, Ajay and Aman reached Bangalore and surveyed different ATMs in Bangalore and settled for a few Canara bank ATMs in J P Nagar, Jaya Nagar, Tilak Nagar, R T Nagar and Cubbon Park limits and one Corporation Bank ATM at Corporation circle.
“Zameer and I reached Bangalore on Jan 27. We gave them the skimmers on Jan 28 which they installed along with a small sting camera at a Canara Bank ATM at R T Nagar, at East End main road in Jayanagar and one more in Jayanagar 4th Block. On Jan 29 and 30, and Feb 2, we installed skimmers at many more ATMs in these areas. We also monitored movement at ATMs and a few days after the installation, collected the data of debit cards belonging to thousands. We downloaded the data to a laptop and gave it to Zameer for further analysis and processing. I then sent the skimmed data to a Russian seller using a file-sharing website since emails are risky. Once he downloaded the data, he deleted it from the website. In a day, we received the decrypted data and Zameer and I analysed it, matching it with the timing of the password. It was completed on Feb 4. Then, we started preparing cloned cards of Canara Bank with the help of a magnetic card reader. We prepared the cards in a day and on Feb 5 and 6, we withdrew Rs 40 lakh from different ATMs at M G Road, Church Street, Ganga Nagar, R T Nagar, Peenya, J P Nagar, Rajaji Nagar and many other localities. Then, we hired an Innova and went to Hyderabad.”
They then went to Pune and withdrew around 4.5 lakh on Feb 7 and 8. “We returned to Hyderabad and shared the cash between us. We even sent the cloned cards to London so that my friends could withdraw money there,” he told police.
“We used to travel by air and I bought an Audi car with the money I got and shifted to a posh house at Hyderabad. The skimming continued all the while – in Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, and Vijayawada. We also gave Alex his share of cash and ordered for more skimmers,” Kamal told police.
Bangalore police said no one knows why such a brilliant man became a cheat. According to them, he needed big money as he had borrowed lakhs from different people.
“It is shocking how a person with so much talent can do this. People should be careful and banks should also take necessary measures to improve security in ATMs,” Sonia Narang said.
Be afraid
In his statement to the cops, Kamal revealed that when he asked Alex Rosenberg in Russia for more skimming machines, he declined as he had many more orders, mainly from India. It means that there are many other such gangs active in India.
Police said that the gang chose Canara Bank ATMs as majority of them do not have security guards. The cops are planning to talk to the bank officials to look at the security aspects.
NEW UPDATE ON THIS STORY.
1. Ajay Gf is referred to $1000+ prostitute from Hyderabad, India , not is girl friend
2. Her gf demanded more money to clear her old dues with many people including low level cops which she was suppose to bribe.
3. Mastermind Kamal took out over of $71,000 in span of just 6 months from 2 cities.
4. main targeted atms were residential areas
5. As I live in same city,on an avg these atms had footfall of 30-60 customers per day.
6. Master mind Kamal came in radar for owning a luxury villa on rent ( $ 4,500 rent per month , with over $26,000 of Security deposit)
Later on investigation cops found out that many people in touch with Master Mind Kamal was already doubting that Kamal is doing
something illegal owning Audi and the luxury life he had.
* These points were just updated by fellow partner from Master Mind origin city.
* Notes to Indian and other new skimmers hackers. DO NOT FCKING UNDER ESTIMATE COPS. THINK IF U WERE THE COP THEN?
F.Y.I : Indian Cyber cell, Pune , India and Mumbai Cyber cell has hired many carders and hackers officially and unofficial on project basis to investigate/undercover agents to bust carders like us.
Personal research data :
Gangs busted related to skimming only.
2007-2010 - 3-4 per year avg.
2011 = over 6 gangs across India.
2012 = Already 4 gangs, involving over 70 people.
Biggest Bust of the Indian History in Skimming : 40 agents + 5 masterminds , busted in Gujrat , India
12 people busted red handed in hotel during raids and tracking.
over 167 blanks were found.
Huge amount of cash, no exact data revealed yet by cops.
Investigations and RBI ( Reserve Bank of India ) is working on something new to avoid skimming .
This article is not to demotivate you or scare you.
All the events happened because carders became way too greedy after getting their first few cashouts and expanding their business compromising the security measures.
In India, its a saying " You do theft 1 time,2 time,3 time,4 time..100's of time, but it takes only 1 time to get fucked forever "
And I'm sure you don't want that wooden PayPal of cops going into your ass for real.If you want to get fucked, hire a gay rather
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