76-year-old loses Rs 35,000 in card swap fraud in Pune

PUNE: A retired upper division clerk with the defence forces lost Rs 35,000 to a crook in a debit card swap fraud when he visited an ATM kiosk in Anandnagar on Paud Road around 12pm on August 27.
Ramesh Jahagirdhar (76), the victim, immediately blocked the card after receiving messages about a couple of withdrawals totalling Rs35,000 from his bank account and reported the matter to the police as well as the bank. Following verification, the Kothrud police registered an FIR under sections 420 (cheating) and 406 (criminal breach of trust) on Tuesday.
Jahagirdhar told TOI he was facing some problems carrying out a transaction the day he visited the ATM kiosk. “At this moment, a man standing behind with a mask on his face offered to help me by saying my transaction was cancelled and took the ATM PIN from me. Later, the man diverted my attention, exchanged the debit card and left the place around 12pm. I inserted the card again into the machine, but the transaction was declined. It was then I realised that my card had been exchanged, and I could not withdraw cash,” said Jahagirdhar.
“Fifteen minutes later, the man executed two separate transactions from another ATM to withdraw a total of Rs35,000 from my account. I rushed to the bank after receiving text messages regarding the transactions and got the card blocked to deter him from withdrawing more cash,” he said. “I obtained the bank statement, filled the dispute form at the bank and filed a complaint plea with the police on August 29. The police conducted a preliminary inquiry and lodged a complaint against the suspect,” he added.