A man was arrested for allegedly duping ATM users in different parts of Mysuru district.
The accused, who would target women and elderly men, approaches people whenever they falter inside the ATM kiosks and offers to help them. After learning the PIN from them, he replaces their ATM card with a different card and leaves the kiosk claiming that their card was not working.
Later, he returns to the ATM kiosk with the original ATM card and draws money with the help of the PIN that he had already collected.
Addressing a press conference in Mysuru on Thursday, Superintendent of Mysuru district police R. Chethan said the accused had used the same modus operandi at six different places in Mysuru district during the last one year and had drawn more than ₹ 1 lakh from the accounts of different people.
Citing a case in K.R. Nagar town, Mr .Chetan said the accused, a 25-year-old construction worker, approached a woman Sunanda Bai, who was finding it difficult to draw money from an ATM on February 2, 2022.
He learnt her PIN and later informed her that her ATM card was not working. He handed over to the woman a different ATM card, but later used the ATM card belonging to the woman to draw money.
The accused had similiarly cheated another elderly man in K.R. Nagar on May 4.
The Mysuru district police took up the cases seriously and mounted a vigil near ATM kiosks in different parts of the district. Based on the CCTV footage taken from the ATM kiosks where the crime had been reported from and other clues, the police managed to nab the accused from an ATM kiosk at K.R. Nagar Town bus stand on May 30.
During interrogation, the police learnt that the accused had cheated a total of six persons using the same modus operandi. While three cases had been reported in K.R. Nagar, one case each had taken place in H.D. Kote, Periyapatna and Hunsur, Mr. Chethan said.
Apart from ₹ 12,000 cash, 3 grams of gold and a two-wheeler he had purchased from the proceeds of the crimes, the police had also recovered a total of seven ATM cards. The ATM cards recovered from the accused were the ones that his victims had blocked. The accused was replacing the ATM cards of his new victims with the cards of his old victims, Mr .Chethan said.
