B.Tech student held for bank fraud worth lakhs

A 22-year-old B.Tech student was arrested by the Delhi Police on Sunday for allegedly committing bank fraud worth lakhs of rupees. The police were alerted to the alleged crime by the security guard of an ATM enrolled in the “Prahari” scheme.

The accused, who has been identified as Mukul Rajput, a third year B.tech student at a private university, allegedly used to hack ATMs in order to make quick and easy money. He told the police that he used to “manipulate the system by placing his finger in the cash dispenser unit” after which the machine would stop. He would then go to the respective banks with the receipt that shows “failed transaction” in order to get the money.

‘Guard grew suspicious’

During questioning, he said that he learnt the technique from an acquaintance a year ago from his native place, Kanpur. Later, he also bought books and watched videos on ways to tamper with ATMs.

The police said that they were informed of the accused by Santosh, the security guard, who found Rajput suspicious because after he made two transactions, the machine stopped working. Santosh is a part of “Prahari” scheme which was launched by Commissioner of Police, Amulya Patnaik, to add chowkidaars and guards as police’s eyes and ears.

The police have recovered over 30 ATM cards of different banks under different names along with 40 signed cheques.