Pune: Crook obtains woman’s debit card, steals Rs 2.4 lakh

PUNE: A fraudster working with a private firm appointed by a bank for conducting various jobs got a debit card issued in the name of an illiterate woman, collected it on her behalf and withdrew over Rs2.36 lakh from her account from various ATMs since December 28 last year.
The fraud was unearthed after the 55-year-old woman of Tadiwalla Road found only Rs500 left in her account in June. She lodged an FIR on Thursday under Section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code with the Bund Garden police.
Police said the woman did not have any steady source of income. She used to deposit the money she got from her children in her account.
Senior inspector Sunil Tambe said, “The fraudster worked in the firm on contract. He got friendly with the woman when she met him for updating her passbook. During one such visit, he struck a conversation with her on finding decent balance in her account.
He obtained her signature on a blank form for issuing a debit card. He also took her signature on a blank piece of paper, authorizing him to collect the card and PIN on her behalf in December.”
Tambe said, “The fraudster withdrew over Rs2.36 lakh from various ATMs between December 8, 2018, and June 14, 2019, after getting the debit card. The woman was not aware of the transactions as she did not receive text messages alerts.”
He said, “The woman on numerous occasions went to the fraudster to update her passbook. He sent her back each time on some pretext. In June last week, the woman got her passbook updated and was shocked to see just Rs500 in her account. When she apprised the bank manager of the situation he confirmed that the debit card had been used to withdraw cash,” he said.
The woman later filed a complaint application with the Bund Garden police. A preliminary inquiry revealed that she was duped on the pretext of offering debit card. “We hope to arrest the fraudster at the earliest,” Tambe added.