Hyderabad cops bust interstate ATM fraudsters; three of Mewat gang arrested

Hyderabad: The South zone task force team arrested three interstate ATM debit card fraudsters of the Mewat gang on Monday and solved four cases.

The accused were Mohd Iqbal(27), Ansari(31) and Mohd Salaim(31), natives of Haryana.

Explaining their modus operandi, city police commissioner Anjanikumar said, "Initially, they choose unmanned ATM Centres. Two of them would enter the cabin. One would operate the ATM machine by inserting a debit card. While drawing the cash, the second would manipulate the ATM machine and create some technical error with some tool and then take out the cash from the dispenser."

Later, they would lodge a complaint (through toll free number) that they could not withdraw the cash from the ATM and their transaction failed.

"During verification, the bank found the transaction of the accused failed because of a technical error while dispensing cash. Subsequently the bank will deposit the money in the complainant’s account. The accused cheated many banks this way," police said.

A south zone task force team and Nallakunta police jointly apprehended the accused and seized the debit cards and a net cash of Rs 2 lakh from them. The accused and seized material were being handed over to the Nallakunta police.