The Cyber Crimes Investigation Unit of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Thursday (5) arrested an 18-year-old boy who had purchased goods worth Rs.5 million online using the details of the credit cards owned by rich people in several countries.
He has stolen the credit card details of users from the USA, the UK, Mexico and Argentina and had purchased items such as expensive liquor brands, perfumes, branded clothing items and expensive food items online since December 2021, police said.
The suspect is from a poor family in the Dummalasooriya area and has learned to hack the credit card details of individuals from the internet by self-studying, police said.
He has failed all the subjects except two at the G.C.E. (O/L) Examination and has carried out self-studying by using a smartphone he had purchased by working as a labourer, investigations have revealed.
After purchasing the smartphone, he had been addicted to a popular online game through which he had gained more knowledge on using the Internet. Then he had further studied the ways of hacking computers and other computer systems and has also joined with some websites and social media communities relating to hacking and stealing credit card details.
“The first purchase he has made using the stolen credit card details is a reload of Rs.50 for his mobile phone,” Police said.
“He has gifted the expensive liquor bottles purchased online to his friends,” Police said. The complaint against the suspect was lodged by a local financial company on January 5 on suspicion about the transactions the suspect had made from time to time.
Accordingly, the CID officers had arrested him at his residence in Dummalasooriya. Police said that although he had purchased expensive items online, the suspects had not renovated his small and dilapidated house so far. The CID was to produce the suspect before the Aluthkade Magistrate’s Court. Investigations are going on.
Add new comment