Visakhapatnam: Cops still clueless on Rs 5 lakh theft from ATM

Visakhapatnam: Investigations in the withdrawal of nearly Rs 5 lakh from a single ATM centre of Andhra Bank at MVP Colony in Vizag city has not so far yielded any positive results. A fraudster using debit cards from various banks stole the money after switching off the power supply to the ATM by opening the hood door of the machine with a duplicate key while the machine was about to dispense the cash.

Police suspect a fraudster from Uttar Pradesh might have committed the crime but the investigators apparently have not got any clue to nab the accused. Between June 24 and June 28, the miscreant used the ATM 51 times to loot the money using a number of debit cards and stole the money by opening the upper panel of the machine with duplicate keys. The fraud came to light when the outsourced firm which loads cash into ATMs of the bank found that there was a gap in the loaded money and dispensed cash.

The cash loaders had loaded Rs 8 lakh in the ATM counter during the period. When they went to the ATM counter to replenish cash, they found a difference of Rs 4,82,500 in one of the machine and Rs 10,000 on another machine. The cash loading firm and the bank authorities lodged a complaint with MVP Colony police station. “Preliminary investigation has revealed that the fraudster used the ATM at night only. The CCTV footage at the ATM counter gives a clear picture of the modus operandi. The fraudster inserts debit card in the ATM to withdraw some amount by entering the PIN. While the machine is about to dispense the cash, the fraudster switched off power and opened the upper panel of the machine with a duplicate key to collect the cash from the pane. In the entire process, the amount was not debited from the account holder as the cash loaders were the victims,” said investigating officer M. Mahesh.

Police sources said that the fraudster is a former employee of a cash loading agency as the culprit has obtained a duplicate key of the specific ATM counter and he has idea on how to loot money. Police circulated the video footage to all banks to take possible steps to prevent such incidents.  A senior police officer said, “We are investigating the case from various angles to nab the accused and so far we have not got any clue to establish the identity of the culprit.”