Gang that duped ATM users busted, 7 arrested: Noida cops

According to the police, the gang would procure ATM cards from pick pockets and scrap dealers which they later used in the fraud. Those arrested have been identified as Rakesh alias Abbas, Mahit, Chandan, Rajeev, Saurabh, Harendra and Manish, the police said, adding the accused hailed from Ghaziabad, Delhi and Bulandshahr.

With the arrest of seven people, the Noida Police on Thursday claimed to have busted an inter-state gang which duped people on pretext of helping them with ATM transactions. The police also recovered 107 ATM cards of various banks from the possession of the gang, which has duped people in Delhi-NCR, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, among others, officials said. These men were held near Sector 62 by officials from Sector 58 police station and Rs four lakh cash was also seized from them, Joint Commissioner of Police Luv Kumar said.

Explaining their modus operandi, Kumar told reporters, "They would target gullible people who faced problems operating ATM cards. One of the accused would be present in the ATM kiosk and observe the PIN number and then offer to help the target with their withdrawal." "The accused carried various types of cards, like VISA or Mastercard etc, and would cleverly replace the target's card with theirs and then later use it to withdraw money," the officer said. He said the gang prominently targeted those ATMs which were out of service and without guards, thinking it would be easier to dupe people there.

"If they found boards of 'out of service' at some ATM, they would remove it and set trap for a user. This raised their chances of duping the people, especially those from rural background or less educated about technology," Kumar said. According to the police, the gang would procure ATM cards from pick pockets and scrap dealers which they later used in the fraud.

Those arrested have been identified as Rakesh alias Abbas, Mahit, Chandan, Rajeev, Saurabh, Harendra and Manish, the police said, adding the accused hailed from Ghaziabad, Delhi and Bulandshahr. The police said the accused have been active for six to seven years now and have a combined 63 FIRs lodged against them at various police stations mostly for cheating and fraud.

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