Kochi:
Kochi Police on Friday arrested a person for allegedly stealing money from ATMs in Kochi through 140 transactions made using fiber objects at various ATMs of South Indian Bank.
The accused has been identified as Mubarak, a resident of Uttar Pradesh.
According to the complaint lodged with the police, the accused had allegedly stole Rs 25,000 in seven transactions on August 18 and 19.
The Deputy Commissioner of Police mentioned that a complaint of inability to debit the amount from the ATM was registered when they were trying to withdraw it from the South Indian Bank ATM at Kalamassery.
Police said the clarity of the theft was seen after scanning the bank’s CCTV footage, in which “the accused were seen going inside the ATM to collect money after the account holder came out after unsuccessful attempts to withdraw.”
“The accused used a fiber object for this purpose. He was inserting this object inside the ATM machine before any of the account holders came. This object would capture the money coming from the ATM. As soon as the customer exited the ATM Yes, accused go inside and take the money,” said DCP S Sasidharan.
Money stolen from South Indian Bank ATM. “We have to check whether the cash dispensing mechanism of any other ATM has also been disrupted in this manner. They have done around 140 transactions in this manner,” he said.
Sasidharan further revealed that accused Mubarak was involved in similar crimes in UP as well.
“He confessed that he has been stealing ATMs in Kerala since August 18,” the DCP said.
Further investigation is going on.
Issuing a clarification on the matter, a South Indian Bank statement said, “South Indian Bank Limited (SIB) currently issues clarification on certain media reports relating to incidents at the Bank’s ATMs located in and around Ernakulam City. “
“As soon as these sporadic incidents were reported at our ATMs, the bank took necessary measures to prevent such incidents and immediately filed a police complaint at Kalamassery police station. The bank had also filed a complaint with the Director General of Police (DGP). and before the city police commissioner, Ernakulam, requesting them to nab the criminals involved at the earliest,” according to a statement from the bank.
The statement further said, “Police showed great promptness and arrested the accused involved in sporadic incidents on August 26, 2022 thus preventing recurrence of such incidents in other bank ATMs.”
According to the statement, “All complaints received from customers related to this incident have been duly addressed and the bank has refunded the amount.”
“Further, the bank has proactively identified such incidents and refunded the amount, without waiting for customer complaints,” the bank said.