Bengaluru: You thought your money was safe in the bank. Think again. Bengalureans have lost more than 10 lakh in a week through illegal withdrawals. 200 Bengalureans have had unsolicited withdrawal alerts on the mobiles over the week, the Times of India reported today. The ATM card may be in your pocket, but your money is theirs.
According to the report, advertising professional Rajith Ravi from Cooke Town got a shock at 11.53pm on Monday when his cellphone buzzed with messages indicating three withdrawals worth Rs 30,000 from his HDFC bank account from an ATM in Thane. “I opened my wallet but my debit card was inside. I didn’t know how someone withdrew my money without my card or PIN,” said Ravi, after lodging a complaint at the cybercrime police station at Bengaluru commissionerate on Tuesday.
The report also said that Sarvesh Aradhya from Kyalasanahalli whose salary of Rs 19,500 was stolen by fraudsters on Sunday night at an ATM in BTM Layout while his South Indian Bank ATM card was in his pocket. Another victim was M Azmath, a construction worker in the Electronic City . “I had saved Rs 60,000 in my Axis Bank account over two years and on Sunday, every rupee was wiped out from an ATM in Thane,” he said.
Cyber Crime sleuths said that there has been an increase in complaints of illegal withdrawals in Bengaluru, mainly from ATMs in BTM Layout, Hennur, Geddalahalli, Indiranagar and a few in Mumbai and Thane.
“There is a surge in complaints of illegal withdrawals from across the city, mainly from ATMs in BTM Layout, Hennur, Geddalahalli, Indiranagar and a few in Mumbai and Thane. We have registered all the complaints and are investigating,” said an investigating officer. He said 30 similar complaints were registered on Monday and one woman had lost Rs 1.17 lakh. Police suspect that gangs have placed advanced card skimmers, which can read debit and credit card data during usage, with pinhole cameras in ATMs across the city to copy card data and capture PINs.
“The fraudsters fit the skimmer device on the slot where the card is inserted and plant pinhole cameras to record the PIN for every card used at the kiosk,“ an officer in Banaswadi police station told the TOI. The officer had earlier cracked an ATM card racket in February.
