In a Bollywood flick that was released a few years ago, Paresh Rawal, a small-time conman, is seen sticking chewing gum in the upper portion of the cash disseminating window in an ATM. He waits till a user swipes the card and the money get stuck due to the chewing gum and the user leaves the ATM kiosk in a huff. He then removes both the chewing gum and the cash. The ATM fraudster who struck at an ATM in MVP Colony appears to have drawn inspiration from the word ‘innovation’.
The fraudster has reportedly drawn to the tune of ₹ 4.92 lakh by swiping a card as many as 51 times from June 24 to 28. Despite the police having a few clues including CC TV footage, the police are yet to nab him. Till date the police and bank officials have never come across such a modus operandi.
Inspector of Police (Crime) MVP police station Malla Mahesh said the offender somehow managed to get a duplicate key of the ATM and used it to make good with the cash.
The offender probably has a bank account in which there is some cash. He would swipe the card and feed the pin. As and when the cash is ready for delivery, hearing the counting sound and it coming to the upper trap door, he would switch off the machine and open the upper panel with the duplicate key and make good with the cash. In a normal case, the amount would go back to the inbuilt locker, but in this case, as the person has opened the upper panel and has taken the amount, it will not show as a debit entry in his account, as the cash transaction has failed, Mr. Mahesh said. The police said the accused has selected an ATM near Cancer Hospital in MVP Colony and made all his attempts between 11pm and 2 a.m . According to bank authorities, they have filled the cash in ATM on June 23 and after that they had checked the ATM on June 28 and found that some cash was missing, as the transaction list was not matching with the balance amount remaining. When bank officials checked CCTV footage of the ATM, the crime came to light.
Sumit Bhattacharjee
