On July 29, Hari Vishwanth of Maduravoyal lost his debit card and two days he received messages that about Rs 15,000 was withdrawn on multiple transactions. Ambattur cyber cell probed the case and found that the card had been swiped at a Paytm Point of Sale machine to purchase a few items. The transactions were tracked and it emerged that the money was then transferred to the account of one R Saravanan (28) of Kattupakkam.

He was secured and investigation revealed that he has been visiting ATMs to look for misplaced debit cards. “He chose WiFi-enabled cards since it does not require PIN to transfer up to Rs 2,000 and has siphoned about Rs 10 lakh using different cards in the last four months,” said police.

Police said Saravanan quit his bank job due to family dispute and spent his savings on the treatment of his four-year-old kid’s heart ailment. “To meet his needs, he decided to make money this way and bought a PoS machine in his friend’s name without the latter’s knowledge,” said police.

The PoS machine and 14 debit cards were seized from Saravanan before he was handed over to Maduravoyal police. He was remanded in judicial custody.