KOCHI: The state capital witnessed a high-profile ATM heist in 2016 involving six Romanian nationals. The incident made Keralites wake up to a new danger. The fraudsters had used advanced technology called skimming to swindle money. This method is used by criminals to capture data from the magnetic stripe on the back of the ATM card, which involves hijacking the ethernet connection of the ATM to gather information.
The Romanian gang arrived in the capital on July 8, 2016, on tourist visas and stayed at a hotel in Pazhavangadi. They collected ATM card and PIN details of around 100 customers by installing a Wi-Fi router at an ATM at Althara in Vellayambalam. Later, they gained access to the customers’ accounts and withdrew Rs 2.5 lakh in total. More than 60 customers lodged complaints with the Peroorkada, Museum and Vattiyoorkavu police stations.
The special team led by then Cantonment Assistant Commissioner of Police K E Baiju was formed to investigate the heist. Though the main accused, Illie Marian Gabrielle, was arrested from Mumbai on August 10, 2016, a few days after a hacking was reported at an ATM counter in Vellayambalam, the police had a tough time to nab the remaining accused.
The location of the prime accused was found after decoding with the help of cyber experts the messages which the customers who lost money had received. Unlike other cases, the police team had to travel to Nicaragua to deport an accused and contact various countries, including Romania to identify and nab the suspects with the Interpol help.
“We zeroed in on the SBI’s ATM at Althara as all persons who lost money had used the counter. Then we checked the CCTV footage and found that the crime was committed by Europeans. Later, we checked through Google about similar fraud that had happened and learnt these were done by Romanians,” said Baiju. The remaining four accused are still in foreign countries and the police team is keeping in touch with the Interpol to deport them too.