London grad held after his ‘sticky trick’ to manipulate ATM fails

LUCKNOW: A graduate from London was held in Lucknow while trying to dupe people at an ATM counter in Hazratganj area on Wednesday.

Police said after facing losses in business, he had learnt tricks to manipulate ATM machines and tried his hand at cheating people.

The accused, Amit Kumar, a resident of New Delhi, was staying in Lucknow for the past few days.

During interrogation, he confessed that he was planning to dupe people through an ATM trick but failed to execute it, said Avnish Mishra, circle officer, Hazratganj.

Kumar told police that he had done his hotel management from a London institute and started his business around four years ago. His brother is a software engineer.

The accused also revealed that he learned the trick by watching an Internet video on how an ATM machine could be manipulated by putting glue on its keypad.

Kumar said the keypad does not function properly when glue is put on it and the ATM user often returns without cancelling the transaction.

Thereafter, the accused used to withdraw money from ATM machines by removing the glue and pressing the continue button, added the CO.

He said the accused landed in police net when he tried the same trick at an Indian Bank ATM outside its main branch on Ashok Marg on Tuesday.

Bank officials spotted the glue on the ATM keypad when customers complained to them that the keypad was not functioning properly.

“The accused was traced when bank officials scanned the ATM room CCTV footage. They caught him red-handed when he returned to apply the same trick. The bank officials later handed him over to cops after registering an FIR against him,” he said.