ATM card swapping fraud | Man held with 271 cards in Chennai

Collects expired/abandoned cards from ATM kiosks, diverts attention of the card holders, pretends to help with withdrawal and swaps cards

A 56-year-old man was arrested by M.K.B. Nagar Police for swindling money from the bank accounts of persons visiting ATMs, on the pretext of helping them, by swapping ATM cards.

The complainant, Jacqueline Irudhayaraj, 27 is working in a private firm and resides at M.K.B. Nagar. Three months ago, she had gone to an SBI ATM to activate her new debit card but faced issues while doing so. A bystander who was waiting near her to use the machine came forward and pretended to help, which she also accepted. The man tried to help her out by asking her to re-enter the PIN after inserting the card into the machine. She put in her credentials but in vain. The man said that there was some problem in the account and handed over the ATM card.

After reaching home, she received an SMS from the bank stating that ₹29,500 was withdrawn from her account. She also found the card with her was not hers at all. Then, she lodged a complaint with the police.

Police scrutinised the CCTV footage and traced the accused who was identified as K. Prabhu, 56, of Perambur who is working as a mechanic in a public sector undertaking in Avadi. Police recovered 271 debit/credit cards, Rs. 6,500 and a two-wheeler from him.

Further investigation revealed that he had debts borrowed to spend on his daughter's marriage three months ago. He resorts to attention diversion by cheating on several occasions to make quick money. A few months ago, he got an abandoned card at an ATM centre and tried to withdraw money using a random password - assuming that could be the date of birth. It worked in his favour.

"Since then, he has visited many ATM kiosks and collected expired/abandoned cards lying around there. Then, he diverted the attention of the card holders after pretending to help them at ATM kiosks. He would take a debit card of the same bank and in the name of helping customers, he switched cards. “He took the card and withdrew money from the next ATM and SMSes would be sent to the victim. Then only they would realise that they had been conned," said Varghese Ignatius Raja, crime Inspector of MKB Nagar.

It may be recalled the M.K.B. Nagar police recently arrested a gang of four from Bihar which targeted the customers at ATMs and swindled their money by swapping cards.