City police have arrested two men and are investigating them for allegedly stealing money from ATM kiosks using a very elaborate method.
According toreports, the accused have been identified as 23-year-old Shahid and 28-year-old Shahajahad who are both natives of Haryana, working in Bengaluru. According to reports, the duo ran a very elaborate modus operandi to steal money from ATM kiosks throughout the city.
First, they would identify a kiosk that was not protected by a security guard and was not in an extremely crowded area. They would then physically turn the CCTV camera(s) in the kiosk away from the machine and use a valid ATM card to withdraw cash. As the machine would begin to disburse the cash one of the men would hold onto the money without pulling it out from the machine, which triggers an error message in the machine.
At this point, the other partner would turn off the power supply to the ATM at which time the man holding onto the money from the machine would remove it.
Since the power was cut as the machine was dispensing the money, the amount would not be reflected as being debited in their individual bank accounts.
The incident came to light when a bank manager visited one of the ATM kiosks and noted that the CCTV camera had been turned away. Plainclothes police were dispatched to the region surrounding the ATM and kept watch on the kiosk. The two accused were nabbed by police on Saturday while attempting to steal money using the same modus operandi.
Police suspect that the duo has stolen hefty amounts of money from ATM kiosks around the country in a similar manner. Speaking to the Hindu, Inspector Mohammed Mukarram stated that the accused duo had duped several banks out of lakhs of rupees.