Two held for ATM fraud amounting to Rs. 92.39 lakh
Two persons were arrested in an ATM cash withdrawal fraud amounting to Rs. 92.39 lakh in Madhya Pradesh's Jabalpur district, police said on Saturday. The police has arrested Shakir Hussain (30) and Inzamam-ul-Haq (24), both residents of Harayana's Nuh district, while three other accused are at large, city superintendent of police (Omti) RD Bharadwaj said. Here's more.
Police seized 86 ATM cards from the accused
The police has seized 86 ATM cards of various banks, three PAN cards, three Aadhaar cards, a checkbook, Rs. 11,500 cash, and three mobile phones from the accused, the official said.
SBI manager had lodged a complaint about shady withdrawals
The fraud came to light after a manager from the State Bank of India (SBI) lodged a complaint with the police that some Axis Bank customers were allegedly withdrawing money from SBI ATMs. The manager also mentioned that these customers were later making false complaints to the bank to refund the money though they had already withdrawn the sum from ATMs, he said.
134 transactions were made from different ATMs in 10 days
The accused had withdrawn cash in 134 transactions between April 2 and 12 from different SBI ATMs, he said. The accused would allegedly switch off the power of the ATM when the cash came out, while holding it in the tray, they took the money and later switched on the machine, which would display a failed transaction, the official said.
The men targeted ATMs with open access to power switches
The accused would then complain, asking for a refund from the bank whose ATM they had used, following which the bank would transfer the amount to their accounts, he said. The men targeted ATMs having open access to power switches so that when one of them is withdrawing, another accused could turn off the machine and put it back on again, the official added.