MADURAI
A senior citizen fell victim to a debit card fraud at an ATM centre and lost more than ₹one lakh.
On Friday, N. Marimuthu, a senior citizen residing in Sellur, was withdrawing money from an Indian bank ATM, when an innocent looking woman standing nearby had allegedly initiated conversation in a bid to divert his attention.
She had allegedly asked Marimuthu for help in operating the ATM machine and the man unable to see through her ploy had demonstrated her the procedure to withdraw money using his ATM card.
She had also taken the ATM card from him saying that she wanted to take a look at it. But the woman had allegedly returned some other card of the same bank, which Marimuthu couldn’t differentiate.
In a few minutes, the woman had entered a jewellery shop on West Masi Street and purchased gold for ₹ 1,10,000 using the card. Upon receiving the debit message on his phone, Marimuthu was shocked. He and his son, who is a policeman, blocked the card immediately and rushed to the ATM, where they found the woman trying to withdraw more money using Marimuthu’s card and they caught her red-handed.
They lodged a complaint with the Thilagar Thidal police and the woman has been identified as Seetha Lakshmi, 40, of Karaikudi. “There are already existing cases of similar ATM frauds on her under Kariyapatti police station limits and she has been identified as a habitual ATM thief....” police said.
“Since she’s a woman with an innocent appearance, not many suspect her. Her strategy is to somehow see or learn the secret password number by staying nearby the person while he or she is operating the ATM and then she will ask for the card and return a different card. Using the card and secret password number, she withdraws money. This has been her standard formula,” said a police official.
“We have been raising awareness among public of such ATM thieves. We have been asking people not to encourage or let any stranger stand near or speak to you when operating the ATM machine,” added the police official.
The Thilagar Thidal police have recovered the ATM card, registered a case under section 380 of the IPC for theft and are investigating.
