Hyderabad: Attention-diverting gang stealing from seniors, women at ATMs caught; 3 held, 103 cards seized
The police also seized a car and a fake police ID from them
By Newsmeter Network Published on 20 Jan 2025 8:02 PM IST
Representational Image.
Hyderabad: An interstate con gang targeting senior citizens, women and people with limited literacy has been caught with 103 bank ATM cards of different banks and cash worth Rs 7.60 lakh.
The police officials said that the gang were diverting the attention of people through duplicate ATM cards and stealing the originals to withdraw cash from various ATM centres in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Karnataka States.
The gang of three members wanted in 18 cases was identified and busted by the sleuths of Commissionerās Task Force, South Zone Team, Hyderabad along with Bahadurpura police.
The arrested accused have been identified as Vakil Ali (45), Farman (23) and Obaid Arif (30). The other members of the gang, Islam and Gullu, are absconding.
Apart from the cash, the police also seized a car and a fake police ID from them. The accused have been named in 18 cases from Telangana (10), Andhra Pradesh (2), Odisha (4) and Karnataka in two cases.
Case details
The main accused Vakil Ali and Islam are natives of Haryana State and are relatives. Islam moved to Hyderabad and started doing cloth business in the Charminar area. He became friends with Gullu, Farhan and Obaid Arif there.
As their earnings were not sufficient to support their family and lavish lifestyles, they hatched a plan to earn easy money by deceiving innocent people visiting ATM centres to withdraw cash. They formed a gang and started to commit offences in Telangana and other states by diverting the attention of the ATM cardholders.
Modus operandi
The accused would initially collect the ATM cards by various means. They would approach people with limited literacy, senior citizens and women who come to ATMs to withdraw cash. One of them would observe the ATM PIN and the other would steal the card by diverting the attention. Immediately after the theft, they would escape with the original ATM card and withdraw the money from nearby ATM centres and POS machines.
Using this method, they have committed 18 offences in various states.
One of their major offences included withdrawing Rs 2.03 lakh from the account of a person whose card they stole in the limits of Bahadurpura PS on December 22, 2024. Based on the complaint, a case was registered under sections 318(4), 303(2), r/w 3(5) BNS of Bahadurpura PS, Hyderabad. Further investigation is on.
