Two people, who allegedly siphoned off money from ATM counters in the city, were arrested by the Ernakulam Central Police on Wednesday.
The arrested persons have been identified as Jharkhand-native Maneesh Kumar and Bangalore-resident Arun Kumar. The duo allegedly siphoned off Rs 10,000 from the account of a woman through an ATM centre in M G Road last year.
Police officials said the duo operate in ATM centres having two machines. They sabotage the ‘enter’ key of one machine using a stick and gum. When someone comes for taking out money, they pretend to be operating on the other machine.
The victim meanwhile is unable to retrieve money due to the malfunctioning key and once he or she leaves, the duo extract money by removing the stick and pressing the enter key.The police traced them using cameras installed inside the ATM centre.
The two had been involved in another case in Thiruvananthapuram and had been arrested a few months ago. A police team from Ernakulam Central Police approached the Thiruvananthapuram Judicial First Class Magistrate and took them in to custody.