Three nabbed for involvement in ATM fraud

Visakhapatnam: City police arrested three persons involved in withdrawing money fraudulently from ATM centres. Briefing the details, Police Commissioner Ch Srikanth said the main accused Sharukh in the case is yet to be arrested. Kancharapalem police arrested the accused involved in committing offences by withdrawing money fraudulently from ATM centres of Sri Kanaka Mahalakshmi Co-operative Bank.

The bank officials recently noticed a mismatch between the cash uploaded and cash delivered from the ATMs. They conducted preliminary inquiry and found that some unauthorised withdrawals to the tune of Rs 9.49 lakh cash from four ATMs located at Kancharapalem, Muralinagar, Gajuwaka and Anakapalli were made. Bank officials lodged a complaint at Kancharapalem, Gajuwaka and Anakapalli police stations. During the investigation, police identified the accused and nabbed them. The accused were identified as Sharukh, Saikul, Rasid and Mustkeem belonging to Rajasthan. Taking advantage of the technical glitch in the ATMs, the accused confessed that they withdrew the money from December 2 to 5 at different points.

The cops collected CCTV footage of suspicious transactions made at the ATMs and surrounding areas leading to the ATMs and collected clues. The accused formed a gang and sold sarees and dress materials for five years brought from Rajasthan. The accused have collected 78 ATM cards from their relatives and friends in Bharatpur and Alwar districts of Rajasthan and Gurgaon of Haryana. Using 26 ATM cards they did 95 transactions in four ATMs and withdrew an amount of Rs 9.49 lakh.

Kancharapaplem police seized 78 ATM cards of different banks, three mobile phones, clothes, flight ticket and a two-wheeler from their possession. The CP said the accused were produced before the court and were remanded. It is appealed to all bank managements to check for any such technical glitches existing in their ATMs and to take immediate remedial measures to prevent occurrence of these offences. Srikanth appreciated ACP (West) A Narasimha Murthy and his team for cracking the case effectively.