Vizag police arrest two cybercriminals from Haryana for ATM fraud
By Newsmeter Network Published on 24 Aug 2020 9:23 AM IST
Visakhapatnam: This real-life robbery seemed to be straight out of the Bollywood crime thriller.
Police have arrested two young cybercriminals from Haryana for making fraudulent transactions at Vizag ATM using a duplicate key and switching of the power cables of the machine.
Switching off power cables, while machine dispenses cash, showed that the transactions failed due to power disruption.
The fraudulent transactions took place at SBI ATM near Birla Junction.
Airport Police along with a special investigation team were investigating the case based on a complaint from the concerned SBI branch. The officials detected the crime after scanning the CCTV footage.
Officials said the accused from Haryana had collected 34 SBI ATM cards from their relatives and friends along with their PIN numbers and cell numbers. They used to give a share of the booty to the cardholders too.
On August 18, Aakib Khan, 27, and Mubarak, 21, landed at Visakhapatnam airport from Delhi and stayed in a lodge near Dabagardens.
The next day, they took Honda Activa cab on rent and conducted reconnaissance of ATM centers which were not guarded by security guards.
According to the police, the duo used to open the lock of the front box of ATM with the duplicate keys and insert the ATM Card. After entering PIN numbers, they would withdraw the amount. While the machine was dispensing the case, they would switch off the power button.
āAs a result, ATM shows 'Transaction Failedā due to 'network failure' However, the cardholder used to receive a message on his registered mobile number that the amount has been debited to his account. After a few minutes, the actual cardholder used to call the customer care center to complain that he tried to withdraw an amount but the transaction failed. Yet the amount was debited to his accountā, said an official.
After three days, the bank would credit the amount to the account holder. Later the actual cardholder would transfer 50% of the amount to the account of the fraudster.
