COIMBATORE: A 36-year-old man from Kerala was arrested by Valparai police for allegedly deceiving people at ATMs using expired cards, while pretending to offer assistance in withdrawing their money. He would switch fake cards with originals and then withdraw money from victims’ accounts.
The arrested has been identified as K Najeeb from Cherthala in Alappuzha district in Kerala, who works as a wall painter. Police seized 43 dummy ATM cards, three caps, five face masks, and Rs 5,290 in cash from him.
Police said a 45-year-old tea estate worker named Murugammal, who is residing in Nallamudi estate third division, filed a complaint on November 9. She reported that an unknown man helped her at an ATM kiosk in Valparai town and swindled Rs 9,000 from her account by swapping her original ATM card for a fake one. Following her complaint, Valparai town police launched a search.
On Wednesday, a special police team from Valparai noticed a suspicious man standing in front of a nationalised bank’s ATM on Nadumalai Road. Subsequently, police discovered a collection of ATM cards with him.
“Najeeb is believed to have conducted ATM robberies in Pollachi and Valparai in the district, as well as several places in Kerala.
He would approach victims, particularly elderly individuals, offering to help them. After learning their PIN, he would replace the original cards with fake ones and immediately withdraw cash from their accounts while keeping the original cards for future scams,” a police officer said.
“He has 43 ATM cards of different banks. By identifying the colour of the victim’s ATM card, he would choose and keep a dummy card of the same colour ready to exchange. Najeeb has been arrested and remanded to Coimbatore Central Prison. Further investigation is on,” the police officer said.