HYDERABAD: Two persons, who allegedly made false complaints with the State Bank of India (SBI) after withdrawing cash from its ATM in a fraudulent manner, were arrested by the Nampally police on Saturday.
The arrested persons have been identified as Pramod Kumar from Uttar Pradesh and Santosh Kumar from Rajasthan. Three other accused, namely Ajay, Kamalkanth and Pawan, are on the run. They are also from Uttar Pradesh.
It is learnt that the accused persons withdrew money from the ATM multiple times, and as soon as the machine dispensed the amount, they switched it off causing a transaction error. They then registered an online complaint with the bank, claiming the money was debited from their accounts, but they did not get it from the machine due to an "error".
On receiving these complaints from the accused persons, the bank authorities checked the ATM for excess cash. But there was none. However, after verifying the EJ logs (paper printing rolls), they saw that the said transactions showed a cash dispense error message. Surmising the customers’ complaints were legitimate, the bank credited Rs 70,000 to their accounts.
The matter came to light a few days ago, when Dinesh Kolli, the branch manager of SBI-Bazarghat, lodged a complaint with the police, stating that a few fraudulent transactions were recorded in the branch’s ATM on July 10, 11, 12 during an internal audit. A total of Rs 1,10,000 was withdrawn from the ATM.
Later, upon verifying the CCTV footage in the ATM, the police found that the accused had duped the bank. In fact, they had committed similar offences in SR Nagar and Narayanaguda police limits. The accused persons use ATM cards belonging to their family and friends. They move from city to city to commit these offences. As they reach the target city, they deposit Rs 20,000 to 40,000 into a particular bank. They then carry out their operation.