A man has been arrested for allegedly tampering with an ATM in such a way that cash is not dispensed from the machine even after someone swipes his card and the amount is debited from the account.
The accused allegedly used a device to tamper with the machine at a particular ATM kiosk of a nationalised bank at Bally in Howrah and used to collect the cash once the person who actually made the transaction would leave empty-handed.
Howrah police said they received a complaint from the branch manager of a nationalised bank’s branch in Bally that several people who had used the ATM kiosk had their money debited from their account but did not get the cash from the machine.
“Based on the complaint, a probe was initiated and a special vigil was put up. A youth’s suspicious movement was spotted outside the kiosk,” said an officer of the Howrah City Police.
After analysing the CCTV footage of the ATM kiosk, the police said they found that the young man used to insert a “ruler-like” device inside the cash dispenser of the ATM and then leave the kiosk.
“When someone else would enter the kiosk to withdraw money, the person would punch or swipe his card but no money would come out. Once the person would leave the kiosk thinking it was a technical glitch, this youth would re-enter the kiosk and remove the device from inside the machine and collect the cash, which had been dispensed but was obstructed by the device,” said the officer.
The police said this had happened for several days in August before the branch manager raised the alarm and reported the matter to the police.
Officers of the Howrah City Police said a home guard posted to keep vigil on the ATM kiosk nabbed the accused while he was allegedly in the act of stealing cash.
The police identified the accused as Mohammad Salim, a resident of Tiljala in Kolkata.
A senior officer said they were trying to verify whether Salim was acting alone or was part of a larger group.
“It is an alarming trend and if a larger racket is working, several other ATM kiosks could be at risk. So we are verifying his background and his possible links with any group,” said the officer.
Salim was arrested on Wednesday and was produced in court in Howrah on Thursday.