As many as 20 persons, who had used their debit cards at the ATM of a private bank on Kamarajar road near Singanallur on Saturday, lost money from their bank accounts. The actual amount of money withdrawn from the accounts of all the victims are yet to be assessed.
According to one of the victims, a message was received in the early hours on Wednesday stating that ₹ 50,000 was withdrawn from his account. When approached the bank, he found that the money was withdrawn from Bengaluru. Nearly 20 people complained of similar lose of money from their accounts on the same day to the police and banks. Though they approached the Singanallur police, their petition was allegedly not accepted. All of them who lost money from their accounts had used the ATM on Kamarajar road near a star hotel.
Some of the victims submitted a petition to Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) P. Perumal seeking an investigation into the incident. Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Perumal said that the petition has been forwarded to the Cyber Cell and the inspector has been instructed to investigate the incident. The Cyber Cell is yet to register a case.
The police suspect that details of the debit cards of those who lost money could have been leaked using a skimmer kept at the ATM. Those involved in the fraud could have made duplicate cards to withdraw the money using the card details gathered through skimmer.
On April 5 this year, a skimmer and a hidden camera were recovered from a nationalised bank's ATM at Sowripalayam Pirivu. Though Cyber Cell had registered a case and got visuals of two men who installed the devices, no person was arrested. Investigation into another recovery of a skimmer and a mobile phone found in the ATM belonging to a private bank near New Bus Stand on Mettupalayam Road in November 2017 has also not seen any breakthrough.