ATM fraudsters’ gang busted, four arrested

LUCKNOW: The city police on Wednesday claimed to have busted an inter-state gang of ATM fraudsters. The gang caused trouble in cash vending machines and then duped people by replacing their debit cards on the pretext of helping them carry out their transactions.

Police said the gang had cheated hundreds of people in UP, Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Punjab over the past two years.

The arrested were identified as Sultanpur residents Sanjay Kumar and Brijesh Kumar, Azamgarh resident Vashisth Singh and Jaunpur resident Dharmendra.

Senior superintendent of police (SSP), Lucknow, Deepak Kumar said the fraudsters said they targeted the elderly and people of rural background as they were unaware of ATM card safety rules and made for gullible targets.

“The fraudsters used to first create trouble in the cash vending machines by pressing multiple buttons in one go. This caused the machine to hang for a few minutes. Thereafter, they offered to help their target carry out his / her transaction. During this process, they replaced their ATM cards with fake ones,” said the SSP.

Within a few hours of getting their hands on the victims’ debit cards, the fraudsters made online purchases, he added.

“This happened before the real user could come to know that his card had been replaced and could get it blocked,” said Kumar.

He said the gang visited different cities and disappeared soon after committing the crime. Although the back-to-back incidents came on the police radar sometime ago, Kumar said, the fraudsters dodged the police by frequently changing their location. “The Lucknow police cyber cell was also trying to track them for a long time,” he said.