Techie cheats people at cash deposit machines

The Kukatpally police arrested an engineering graduate from East Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh who took money from people at cash deposit machines on the pretext of transferring money into their bank accounts and cheated them.

According to the Cyberabad police, three such incidents were reported within 10 days at two different cash deposit centres in the KPHB limits.

Police said the accused, Intipally Ramarao, 25, an engineering graduate, hailed from Chintapally in Rajole mandal of East Godavari and was staying in a hostel at KPHB Phase I.

Ramarao would wait and approach the victim when there was only one customer at the cash deposit machine.

On October 1, the KPHB police received three complaints where the victims — M.S. Subrahmanyam, G. Subba Rao, and N. Seshagiri Satyanarayana, all residents of Kukatpally — lost money in a similar manner.

Mr Subrahmanyam said that on September 12, he went to the SBI ATM unit near Temple bus stop in KPHB III phase to deposit `25,000 in his friend’s bank account. A stranger approached him, requested that he give him the cash as his debit card was defunct. The stranger promised that he would send money by electronic transfer to Mr Subrahmanyam’s account.

Mr Subrahmanyam shared his friend’s mobile number and bank account number. In a few minutes, Mr Subrahmanyam’s friend received a text message on his phone from the stranger’s phone number that cash was credited to his bank account. Following this, the stranger was given `25,000.

After half an hour later, Ramarao trapped another victim at the SBI ATM and made off with `25,000. About 10 days after that, he cheated another person to the tune of `50,000 at the same kiosk.

“The accused (Ramarao) used to convince customers telling them that his debit card was not functional and urgently needed cash, for the loan of which, he would transfer the money. He sent false messages from his mobile number to the account holder’s mobile number that money had been credited, and fled from the spot with the cash,” said Madhapur DCP A. Venkateshwara Rao.

The DCP said, “The accused was wanted in 14 such cases in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. He used the money for his lavish expenses. He came to the city in search of a job but began committing offences. He was waiting near an ATM when the police team apprehended him and recovered `1.33 lakh cash and also a fake identification card of a multinational company.”