One more arrested in Vadodara debit card scam

Jayesh Shah,a debit card holder who allegedly connived with the restaurateurs to siphon off money,was arrested and produced before a local court.

As per officials of the Detection of Crime Branch,these restaurateurs used the Electronic Data Capture (EDC) machines to transfer money of their customers into their own bank accounts.

Earlier,four persons including one Pranab Upadhyay and Danbahadur Verma of Silver Spoon restaurant located at Gotri Road,were arrested in connection with the scam which involved around 31 restaurants in the city.

The accused had made away with money deposited in accounts in 10 banks including Allahabad Bank,HDFC Bank,Punjab National Bank,SBI,YES Bank,and Kotak Mahindra Bank where they opened new accounts in the name of their friends or relatives.

The DCB has frozen 179 bank accounts in this connection.

“There may be more than 100 people including restaurateurs and debit card holders who are involved in the scam,” DCB (crime) police inspector Jatin Prajapati said.

Bank officials are also being quizzed,police said.

The scam came into light after HDFC Bank alerted DCB on misuse of the EDC machines.