Mumbai: A 24-year-old man was arrested by the Sakinaka police on Monday who swapped the active cards with inactive cards and later withdrew money.
The matter surfaced when the police received a complaint from a woman (whose identity is protected) on October 28. As per her statement, she was at an ATM in the Jarimari area of Sakinaka when a man approached her to help her to withdraw money by using her ATM card.
Thinking of it as an act of kindness, the woman agreed and handed over her ATM card and even the four-digit password. By providing an excuse for the bank server being down, due to which transactions are not possible, he handed over the card and left.
Rs 41,741 debitted from account
The next thing that alarmed the woman was getting a text message from her bank stating that Rs. 41,741 had been debited from her account. Upon checking her card, she realised it was a different one. She then took the matter to the police, lodged a complaint, and the latter began the investigation.
The police started searching for the accused through closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage from the adjoining areas and even the ATM. It was known that after withdrawing the money, the accused entered a jewellery shop to buy ornaments.
With the assistance of CCTV footage, a technical investigation, and informants, the police narrowed down their suspect list to Sahil Salim Shaikh. It was known to them that, with similar modus operandi, there have been five such cases for cheating was reported at DN Nagar, Andheri, Byculla, and Malwani.
Shaikh has two residences, one in Dombivli and the other in Vidyavihar. He was arrested at the latter location.
Police recovers 44 such ATM cards
During the interrogation, he confessed to the crime, and a total of 44 such ATM cards were found in his possession. He also confessed that he usually attempts similar crimes in the Khar, Dharavi, Mahim, Kurla, Ghatkopar, and Sion areas.
The police have circulated the details found in the stolen ATM cards to other police stations to help locate their owners and determine whether they have lost money to their banks.
A case has been registered by the police against Shaikh under sections 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), among others, of the Indian Penal Code. Shaikh, as of now, is under police custody until Friday, according to the police.
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