Money of Kolkata pensioners illegally withdrawn from ATMs in Delhi

Kolkata

Kolkata

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At least 30 persons from Kolkata, most of them pensioners and salaried citizens, found that money from their accounts were drawn over the weekend from ATMs in south Delhi.

The withdrawals were made soon after salaries and pensions were deposited into these accounts. The ATMs used to make the withdrawals are located in Greater Kailash and Lajpat Nagar areas of south Delhi.

The victims, who have accounts in different nationalised and corporate banks, are residents of Jadavpur and its surrounding areas in south Kolkata. They lodged complaints at the Jadavpur police station, saying they came to know of the theft from text messages sent by their respective banks.

All the victims mentioned that they recently used certain ATMs in Jadavpur. This prompted the police to suspect that the culprits placed skimmer devices over the key pads of the ATMs to record passwords.

The complainants said they did not receive any call or messages requesting passwords.

“We have received at least 30 such complaints in the last two days. Customers of various banks said their money had been withdrawn from ATMs in Delhi. Investigation is on,” said Sudeep Sarkar, deputy commissioner of police (south suburban division).

Last year, a similar operation was carried out by a gang in which two Romanian nationals were involved. The gang was busted and 10 people, including two Romanians, were arrested. They are now in jail. Two of the ATMs used by the new victims have been found to be the same ones that were accessed by the Romanians last year.

The gang busted last year also used ATMs in Delhi to draw cash. In addition to skimmer machines, they installed pinhole cameras inside ATM counters to record passwords.

On Monday, all police stations in Kolkata were put on alert and asked to visit ATM counters, especially the unmanned ones, and check whether skimmer devices have been installed to steal data.

“I received four text messages from my bank on Sunday. They said I had withdrawn Rs 40,000 from an ATM in Delhi. The money was withdrawn in four equal instalments. Prior to that, I did not receive any suspicious call or message. I blocked my ATM card and lodged a police complaint,” said Barun Halder, a resident of Jadavpur.

Police found that one of the complainants had accessed an ATM for the last time in September. This has led investigators to suspect that the skimmer devices were installed quite a while ago and removed. The miscreants waited till December 1 for the salaries and pensions.