30-year-old Taloja resident loses ₹ 1.5 lakh in ATM card swap fraud

A 30-year-old welder lost ₹ 1,50,000 to crooks in a debit card swap fraud after he visited an ATM kiosk in Panvel to withdraw money last month.

Victim Anil Kumar Rajbhar alleged in his complaint that the incident took place when he faced some difficulties in withdrawing money from a bank ATM in Ghot Gaon in Panvel around 4.15 pm on December 13.

According to Rajbhar, two men entered the ATM kiosk to help him and entered the card in the machine and asked him to tell the PIN. Rajbhar told them the PIN and one of them entered the PIN but the transaction failed. While they were doing this, three more people were waiting outside in a car.

After trying a couple of times, they said that the money was



not withdrawn and handed over the ATM card and moved out the ATM kiosk. Meanwhile, Rajbhar saw that they crossed the road and entered a car in which three persons were already there. Without giving a second thought that his ATM card was changed with another, he returned home.

Around 5.11 pm he received multiple messages of withdrawal of ₹20,000, 20,000 and ₹ 10,000. Rajbhar tried to block the card by calling customer care at the bank. However, by the time he could have blocked the card, one more transaction of ₹ 1,00,000 was made at Prakash Enterprises.

The next day, he went to the bank and based on the statement, he registered a complaint with the bank. Later on January 4, Rajbhar was called by Taloja police and an FIR was registered under sections 420, 406 and 34 of IPC.