Prakasam police on Friday nabbed four persons on charge of duping debit card holders in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka and escaping with Rs. 14.76 lakh in cash and gold ornaments.
Presenting the four accused before the media here, Superintendent of Police B.Satya Yesu Babu said the accused, all from Anantapur district, used to visit crowded ATMs and volunteer to help old and illiterate people facing problem in withdrawing cash.
As the unsuspecting card holders reveal their secret Personal Identification Number (PIN) while withdrawing cash, the fraudsters ask them to doubly verify the amount withdrawn and in the process give them an inactive Visa or Master Card debit cards. They quickly withdraw the balance left in the debit card holders’ savings bank accounts before the customers realise that they were duped, the SP said. The accused were S. Krishnamurthy(41), R. Bhaskar Reddy (38), an ex-home guard, N. Venkatesh (27) and A. Harinath (35), the SP said adding Rs. 3.48 lakh worth gold and Rs. 4.40 lakh cash were recovered from them.
