Day's haul comes to Rs 7L for this couple

Day's haul comes to Rs 7L for this couple
Preetu Nair,TNN

PANAJI: Remember Rakesh from Furstaganj and Vimmi from Pankhipur? Calling themselves Bunty and Babli, they con millionaires, investors
, ministers and hoteliers on screen. Well, Goa had its own version of Bunty aur Babli last November, when in a single day a couple shopped in the capital city using a credit card and duped business persons of items worth about Rs seven lakh.
The first that the police came to know about the couple is when Michael D'Costa a watch showroom manager complained on Tuesday of having been duped of Rs 42,350 by a young couple on November 10, 2008.
Police sources say that a man going by the name of Mojjafar Sheikh and his female companion from Pune, purchased two wrist watches worth about Rs 42,350 from the showroom. Police sources said that while making the payment, Sheikh claimed he wanted to ensure the sale was secure and hence wanted to use the PIN (personal identification number) facility for which he required privacy to enter the details. The shop manager allowed this and after the transaction, Sheikh signed on the charge slip that was generated.
D'Costa had no reason to doubt that the successful settlement report was generated without connecting "online" with the bank's servers and believed the transaction was genuine.
What D'Costa didn't know was that the couple had gone "offline" and completed the transaction without authorization from the bank that had installed the machine. Sources said that as per the bank's policy all "offline" transactions are to be validated by the bank's risk containment unit, authorized to recommend withholding payments after analyzing the potential of risk associated with a credit or debit card transaction.
Sources said the couple, in their mid twenties, well dressed, with attractive personalities and speaking English went on a shopping spree and purchased items worth about Rs seven lakh on November 10, 2008. They followed the same modus operandi at all shops, making sure that all the credit card transactions were offline and purchased laptops worth over Rs one lakh, jewellery worth more than Rs 4.5 lakh, watches worth Rs 42,000 and dined at a city based restaurant.
None of shops have received the money and the shop owners realized they had been cheated only after the private bank, who supplied the electronic data capture (EDC) machine, withheld payment as the off-line transaction was done without its authorization. Efforts by the police to get in touch with the couple have failed. The only clue the police have is the CCTV footage of the couple in some of the shops. The cops are yet to ascertain whether the credit card used was a fake, was stolen or genuine.
Investigating officer PSI Radesh Ramnathkar said they are verifying with the Sangli police who arrested a couple who used a similar modus operandi to cheat jewellers and businessmen of Rs three lakh in Kolhapur earlier this year, were the same couple who cheated businessmen in Goa.

12 Feb 2009, The Times of India, Goa edition