Palwal man held for ATM fraud

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 14

The police have arrested a man in Okhla industrial area for allegedly withdrawing money from bank accounts of people after swapping their ATM cards on pretext of helping them.

Arrested on July 7, accused Esha Khan (28), a school dropout of Palwal, was remanded to judicial custody on Saturday. Accused in three similar cases, Khan was earlier arrested in Sangam Vihar in 2018, said the police on Sunday.

The police said Khan used to come from his hometown and search for an ATM booth where no guard was on duty and the machine was either not functional or out of cash. He used to target people in low suburban areas, said the police.

Recently a complainant lodged an FIR alleging that she went to withdraw cash from an ATM at Okhla industrial area but the machine wasn’t working properly. She took help from a person standing in the booth. After a while, she received a message on her mobile regarding withdrawal of Rs 30,000 from her bank account and transaction worth Rs 42,790 from her account, said the police.

The complainant immediately contacted her bank and came to know that the said money had been withdrawn using her ATM card. On this, complainant re-checked her ATM card and found that it had been swapped at the ATM by the alleged, said DCP Chinmoy Biswal.

During investigation, CCTV footage of the ATM booth was procured and analysed. It was found that the accused was standing behind the victim and he noticed the PIN of her card while she was making transaction. Further, on the pretext of helping out the victim in money withdrawal, the accused swapped the cards, said the police.

A police team arrested the accused from Okhla industrial area, when he was going to target another victim. As many as 20 ATM cards along with cash were seized from him, said the DCP. 

Accused a school dropout 

• Esha Khan, a school dropout of Palwal, used to come from his hometown and search for an ATM booth where no guard was on duty and the machine was either not functional or out of cash.
• He used to target people in suburban areas.
• Accused in three similar cases, Esha Khan was earlier arrested in Sangam Vihar in 2018.