Cuttack: A 25-year-old youth from Ghaziabad has been arrested for making fraudulent transactions by exploiting the loopholes in the cash dispensation system of various ATMs her in the city.
Prime accused Md. Gaffur aka Sonu Mallick successfully had managed to loot Rs 1.70 lakh from at least four ATMs of different banks in Cuttack in the last two months.
Speaking about the modus operandi, police said Gaffur used to trick the banks by making successfully reversal of money despite withdrawals from his accounts.
Police said, such type of fraudulent transaction is referred as ‘ATM Power Interruption Fraud’.
Unlike ATM robbers, who uproot the entire machines with cash, Gaffur was innovative and executed his plan with precision.
Addressing a press conference, Police Commissioner Y.B. Khuria said, such type of crime was reported for the first time in Odisha while the accused has been banned after a detail investigation.
“After punching the PIN and entering the amount for withdrawal, Gaffur used to snap the power supply to the ATM after the machine started to dispense the cash,” said Khurania.
Khurania said the accused was successfully in making multiple transactions while there was no mention of in the cash ledger statements owing to technical glitches following interruption in power supply.
Earlier, Cantonment police had registered a case on February 2 basing on the shortage of nearly Rs 1.70 lakh in few ATMs reported by the territory manager of Writer Safeguard Pvt Ltd Amrita Swain.
The company is entrusted with the job of loading cash in various ATM in the city.
Police said, Gaffur earlier used to work for with a similar company that used to load cash in ATMs in Ghaziabad. Hence, he was aware of the technical know of the operation of the ATM machines and its lacunas.
However, after the company closed down its services, Gaffur was rendered jobless and faced problems in finding alternative jobs for which he had to take loans from several persons.
Unable to repay the loans, Gaffur went on the wrong track and started to loot cash using the technique to make fraudulent cash withdrawals using debit cards of several banks.
Preliminary investigation reveals that the accused is also involved in similar frauds in Delhi, Ghaziabad, Lucknow and other states. However, it is for the first time that he has been arrested by Commissionerate police.