Vadodara: Acting on a tip-ff, the Navapura police caught four members of a gang who used to dupe the banks by tampering with the ATMs in the city.
All the four persons are natives of Haryana. Thirty four debit cards were seized from them apart from election cards, driving licenses, aadhar card and fuel card. All the accused have been handed over to the cybercrime cell for further investigations.
According to police, they were operating in the city for the last seven days. “They had arrived from Haryana and started targeting ATMs of different banks. Their modus operandi was simple. Two persons used to enter the ATM together. One of them used to insert debit card in the ATM and enter amounts between Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 and wait for the machine to dispense the cash,” said Alpesh Mahida, Navapura police sub-inspector.
“As soon as the machine began process to disburse the cash, the other person used to turn off the ATM’s power button. The cash used to get stuck in the slot. The accused used to remove the cash using screwdriver and then call up the bank. They used to tell the bank authorities that though they got SMS of amount withdrawal, the transaction had failed,” Mahida told TOI.
They then used to claim the amount from the bank. “In last seven days, the accused had targeted ATMs of ICICI, State Bank of India and Kotak Mahindra Bank in the city,” Mahida added.
Police said that the gang members seem to be professional and they have carried out similar crimes in different cities across India in the past. When asked how did they manage to get so many debit cards, the police said that the accused used to convince their relatives.
“They used to take their relatives’ documents and open accounts in different banks. After getting debit card, they used to deposit some amount in the bank accounts before committing the crime,” a police official said. All the accused were staying in a guest house near Nyay Mandir.
The accused have been identified as Altaf Rustam, Salim Mev, Samiruddin Mev and Asif Khan Pathan. They had planned to target some banks and leave the city.