After a break of one year, ATM thieves struck again, targetting four kiosks of the State Bank of India (SBI) on St. Mark’s Road by jamming the cash dispenser to steal cash from the machine.
The accused made as many as 65 fraudulent transactions to withdraw ₹6.2 lakh. Though the incident occurred between July 4 and July 6, officials filed a complaint last Wednesday to get back the lost money through insurance, police officials said.
The CCTV footage installed on the bank campus revealed that the accused was wearing a helmet and used different cards to withdraw cash. As soon as the cash was seen, the accused would jam the dispenser to block the sensor at the time. As the machine got jammed, the transactions would not be completed even if the money was withdrawn. Using this method, the accused made as many as 65 transactions to withdraw the cash and was seen filling his bag and pockets, the police said.
No round-the-clock security
No security personnel were around and bank officials said that they had withdrawn security guards a few months ago as it was decided in the annual review meeting that security was not required at ATMs, the police added.
Based on the complaint, the Cubbon Park police have registered a case of cheating and efforts are on to track down the accused based on the account numbers he had transacted from.
It may be recalled that the then City Police Commissioner Raghavendra Auradkar, had cracked the whip on banks and ATMs and made it mandatory for them to deploy round the clock security following the infamous ATM attack on 44-year-old Jyothi Uday, who was attacked with a machete by a robber at an ATM at Corporation Circle in November 2013. The police arrested Madhukar Reddy and he was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. Following the incident, the city police conducted audits on the ATMs across the city and had given a list of guidelines to heighten security.
COMMents
SHARE