Police said that 125 ATM cards, a swiping machine, ₹ 29,000 cash and a four-wheeler were seized from the four accused.
Police said that 125 ATM cards, a swiping machine, ₹ 29,000 cash and a four-wheeler were seized from the four accused.
The city police on Tuesday arrested an inter-state gang who had allegedly stolen ATM cards from elderly persons at ATM centers and withdrew money from the cards, causing a loss of over ₹5.93 lakh.
The arrested people have been identified as Sandeep (36), Satwinder Singh (20) and Sachin (20) from Bhiwani and Hisar districts of Haryana and Sheikh Ifrail (27) from Adilabad district of Telangana.
Sandeep, Satwinder and Sachin, who are relatives, become acquainted with Sheikh Ifrael during a court trial for their earlier crimes. The police have recovered 125 ATM cards, a swipe machine, Rs 29,000 in cash and a four-wheeler from their possession.
Addressing a press conference at the Police Conference Hall here on Tuesday, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) D Gangadharam said that the accused had committed crimes between May 10 and 12 at various ATM centers in the city.
Explaining the methodology, the ADCP said that the accused posed as customers and targeted innocent, lonely, elderly persons and people who are unaware of how to withdraw cash from ATMs. The accused deliberately tampered with the ATM machine, causing inconvenience to the customers so that they could not withdraw cash.
One of them will then pretend to help the elderly and take advantage of the opportunity to note down the pin. During the negotiation process, they used to take the duplicate ATM card instead of the original ATM card of the victim. And once the person leaves the counter after failing to withdraw the amount, the accused withdraws the money using the original card by entering the PIN. The ADCP said the victims would realize that they had been duped only after receiving the withdrawal message from the bank in their mobiles.
Mr. Gangadharam said that on May 10, the accused had assaulted an elderly man who had refused to give an ATM card in Kancharapalem.
The ADCP also said that the accused had committed similar crimes in Nellore and Cyberabad while on their way to Visakhapatnam. In Nellore, they have used card readers and card writers for cloning ATM cards. He said that after collecting the victim’s data, he had cloned the card to withdraw the amount.
Police Commissioner Ch. Srikanth, Crime Branch had collected CCTV footage at all ATM centers where such crimes took place. “We saw two persons moving suspiciously on a two-wheeler, which did not have any registration number, at crime sites. Based on technical analysis and investigation of the lodge, we have found that four persons were staying in a lodge near the railway station.
Police said that the accused have been arrested for the third time in Andhra Pradesh. During the year 2018, Sandeep was arrested in 15 cases of ATM fraud in Srikakulam district. In the year 2019, he was arrested by Nellore Police in an ATM fraud case where he confessed to around 49 such crimes.