Man arrested for duping at least 14 in ATM fraud

A man was arrested for using sleight of hand to swap people’s ATM cards under the guise of helping them and is suspected to be involved in at least 14 such cases in and around Pune

A man was arrested for using sleight of hand to swap people’s ATM cards under the guise of helping them and is suspected to be involved in at least 14 such cases in and around Pune.

HT Image

The arrested man, identified as Shravan Satish Minjagi (25) a resident of Kadam Wak Vasti, Lonikalbhor and a native of Solapur. He is currently in police custody until June 30 at Wanowrie police station, according to senior police inspector Deepak Lagad. The Lonikalbhor police believe his involvement in one case with three victims registered on Monday.

The man gained credentials of the card by looking at the PIN by peeping into the ATM machine while the victim used it in the first attempt, according to the police.

“He mostly targetted old people. He always kept another card with him. He would cunningly exchange the cards when the victims were not paying attention and used the PIN to use the cards and then passed on the stolen cards in a similar cycle,” said senior PI Lagad.

He was booked for duping three people, including a 19-year-old girl, by pretending to help them withdraw money from two ATMs in Haveli area. In the Wanowrie case, he duped a retired policeman of ₹1,30,000 by using the card to withdraw money and shop.

“There is CCTV showing him involved in three incidents at two separate ATMs. We suspect that the man caught in the exactly same case in Wanowrie is the accused in our case as well,” said

On April 21, when the 19-year-old girl was not able to withdraw cash from an ATM in Lonikalbhor, he pretended to help her and duped her of ₹12,000. In the same ATM on the same day, he duped a woman of ₹9,000. After two months, on June 20, he duped a man of ₹20,000 in another ATM in Kunjurwadi.

A case under Sections 379 (theft) and 420 (cheating) of Indian Penal Code was registered in the matter at Lonikalbhor police station.