VISAKHAPATNAM: The city crime police busted an ATM card fraud by arresting two persons from Haryana. DCP (Crime) V Suresh Babu said 34 ATM cards, Rs 76,000 cash, duplicate keys and a two-wheeler were seized from the duo. He said they received a complaint from Gajjela Surya Bhaskar Rao, an accountant of SBI branch at Birla Junction, that two strangers entered their ATM centre and did fraudulent transactions of `1.03 lakh by switching off power supply on July 7 and 8. Again, the duo did fraudulent transactions on July 22 in the same ATM centre and siphoned off `19,500 and subsequently the bank blocked the account.
The CCTV in the ATM centre recorded their movements. Pendurthi crime SI M Radha Krishna, under the supervision of ADCP K Venugopal Appala Naidu and ACP (Crime) Ch Penta Rao, apprehended the duo on Saturday.
Explaining their modus operandi, the DCP said the duo conducted a recce at isolated ATM centres without security guards. After entering the ATM centre, they would open the lock of the machine with duplicate keys. Then they would insert an ATM card, enter PIN and withdraw cash. After getting cash, they would switch off the power button. Hence, the ATM shows ‘Transaction Failed’ due to network failure.