Five of ATM fraudsters’ gang land in police net

Kuldip Bhatia

Ludhiana, October 22

The police have nabbed five members of a gang who were allegedly involved in cheating several illiterate and gullible persons through ATM frauds. The suspects had admitted to their involvement in at least 70 ATM frauds in different parts of the city and as many as 47 ATM cards of different banks had been recovered from their possession.

Addressing a news conference here today, Commissioner of Police (CP) Rakesh Agrawal said a case under Sections 399 and 402 of the IPC had been registered against the arrested persons. During preliminary investigation, the suspects had disclosed that they had cheated around 70 persons by swapping their ATM cards on the pretext of helping them.

The suspects were identified as Rohit Sama (37) of Daba Road, Rajesh Kumar, alias Chunnu (24), a migrant from Betia in Bihar and presently residing at Sua Road Giaspura, Visakha Singh (30), alias Lucky, of Seelon Kalan, PS Dehlon, Shankar Kumar (27), a migrant from Sitamarhi in Bihar and presently residing in Hargobind Nagar in Giaspura, and Subham Randhawa (20) of Hargobind Nagar in Giaspura.

Giving details about the modus operandi of the gang members, Agrawal said they used to roam around different ATMs and target elderly persons, women, migrants or illiterate persons who were not conversant or had some problem in operating the ATM.

“The suspects would offer to assist their victims and swap the ATM cards with another one (which they had already put to use) after cleverly noting down the PIN number. After some attempts, the ATM would flash that the machine was out of order. Later, they used ATM cards to withdraw money from the bank accounts of the victims,” he said.

He said while interrogation of the suspects persons was on, they had admitted to having committed ATM frauds in several places, including Giaspura, Eastman Chowk, Dhandari, Sherpur Market, main GT Road (towards Delhi), Dhandari, Veer Palace, Fortis Hospital, Chandigarh Road, Basti Jodhewal Chowk, Cheema Chowk and Pippal Road.

The police have recovered three motorcycles (one each from Rajesh Kumar, Shankar Kumar and Visakha Singh), 47 ATM cards, Rs 11,000, two iron rods, a crow bar and a sickle.

Items recovered

The police have recovered three motorcycles (one each from Rajesh Kumar, Shankar Kumar and Visakha Singh), 47 ATM cards, Rs 11,000, two iron rods, a crow bar and a sickle.