PNB customer complains of Rs 50,000 ATM fraud

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, April 21

A customer of Punjab National Bank (PNB), Deepak Dhawan, feels harassed as the police is not taking his complaint seriously. In a complaint to the Kotwali Police station Dhawan claimed that Rs 50,000 was withdrawn through his debit card after it was exchanged by some unscrupulous persons at an ATM booth, functioning outside Town Hall branch.

Notably, the ATM is situated in the periphery of the Golden Temple where thousands of tourists come to pay obeisance from different parts of the world and across the country.

Dhawan said the incident occurred on the night of April 19 when he had gone to the ATM to withdraw some amount. He said there were two ATM and one cash deposit machines in the same booth in violation of norms. Hence, he had to operate the ATM in the presence of three more persons in a little space.

Dhawan said while he was operating the machine other persons created ruckus. So, he preferred to go out of the ATM booth. He said after a few minutes he received four messages on his phone regarding withdrawal of Rs 10,000 twice and Rs 5,000 from his account. The fourth message showed that Rs 25,000 was transferred to another PNB account holder Seema Devi, who had account in the bank’s branch at Kullu.

Dhawan said he immediately blocked his ATM card by calling the call centre after receiving four SMS on his mobile.

When contacted, PNB chief manager Kamlesh Kumar said the account holder came to him and asked for the CCTV footage. He said the engineer had submitted the report to the bank regarding non-functional CCTV cameras at the ATM booth. The bank could conduct an inquiry provided the account holder submits his complaint in writing, he added.