Task Force police nab an inter-state gang duping banks

HYDERABAD: On Sunday night the Task Force police had nabbed an inter-state gang, which was duping banks by exploiting loopholes in certain ATM machines and withdrawing cash fraudulently.

The five culprits are Akhlaq Ahmed, 23, Muncheez, 19, both ITI students, Taufiq, 28, a fruit vendor, all three from Mewat in Haryana, Tasleem, 20, an ITI student from Bharatpur in Rajasthan, and Sakir Mohammed, 23, a farmer from Bharatpur, at Corporation Bank ATM near Nampally railway station.

Police has seized 31 debit cards of several banks and ₹22,000 cash from their possession. During interrogation, they confessed that they were duping banks by exploiting a technical flaw in certain unmanned ATM machines.

“A gang member operates the machine using a debit card. After he keys in a particular amount and the cash enters the dispenser, the first gang member covers the camera embedded in the machine with his left hand and picks up cash with his right hand. As soon as cash is picked up, second gang member, who already covered the overhead CCTV camera, exploits the technical flaw in the ATM machine and triggers a technical error,” Kumar said.

“While committing the fraud at a particular bank’s ATM centre, the accused never use the same bank’s debit card. After the fraud, the accused call their bank’s toll-free number and report about technical error. The concerned bank forwards the complaint to the bank of the ATM, where the accused committed the fraud. The bank, on verification, finds the transaction of accused failed because of error due to power interruption during cash dispensation and, as per the Banking Ombudsman guidelines, they transfer the particular amount to the bank account of the accused,” Kumar added.

However, the police have found out that the accused have committed seven fraudulent transactions within the city. “We have intimated the banks and are waiting for them to lodge complaints. We will inform all the banks on how to improve security at the ATM centres so that such frauds will not be repeated,” the commissioner said.