Ludhiana ATM fraud: Conmen’s bank accounts seized; banks duped of Rs 1 crore

Police also claim that Rs 15 lakh have been lying in the accused’s bank accounts and the department has asked banks to freeze these accounts.

A day after the police busted a gang involved in with the arrest of five people, including a scribe of a local vernacular and a web channel, investigators claim that the banks have been duped of at least Rs 1 crore.

The accused had been carrying out the crime for five years and used to close the bank account after three-four transactions. (Representative image)

Police also claim that Rs 15 lakh have been lying in the accused’s bank accounts and the department has asked banks to freeze these accounts. The accused had been carrying out the crime for five years and used to close the bank account after three-four transactions.

The police had arrested Pankaj Kumar of Chander Nagar, Johny Goyal of New Chander Nagar, Satish Aggarwal of Shakti Vihar of Haibowal Kalan, Vijay Garg alias Vicky of Durga Puri of haibowal, Rajesh Kumar alias Rakesh of Luxmi Nagar of Jassiyan road. The police have recovered there identification cards of Press of a vernacular newspaper and web channel. Johny Goyal claimed to be scribe of various vernacular newspaper and web channel.

Modus operandi

The accused used to open accounts in different banks in names of their relatives and friends and deposit cash in the accounts. Once they got the debit card, they used to withdraw cash using debit cards from ATMs. Immediately after the ATM machine dispensed the cash, the accused used to switch off the machine. The withdrawn cash did not get into the record of the bank. The accused then used complain to the bank about failed transaction and the banks used to deposit cash in their account.They used to withdraw money from ATMs to go unnoticed by banks and the police.

The accused used to open accounts in the name of their relatives and friends and used to give them Rs. 2,000 per month. The police have also recovered 641 debit cards of 18 different banks, 166 cheque books, 117 pass books, Rs 3 lakh in cash besides, a revolver, 12 bullets, three cars and 8 mobile phones from their possession.

Investigating officer ASI Gurmeet Singh said interrogation from the accused was expected to lead to more information on the case.