Two men were arrested by the crime branch in Mira-Bhayandar, Vasai-Virar (MBVV) on charges of allegedly offering help to withdraw cash from ATM kiosks.
A few months ago, the pair travelled to Maharashtra from Basti in Uttar Pradesh. Nalasopara was their home. They were arrested on June 16 and a bike and 34 ATM cards were recovered following their arrest.
In two cases, the arrests were made by police- one by Pelhar Police and the other by Tulinj Police- Deepak alias Vikrant Shukla, 20, and Shikhar Mishra, 21, were both arrested. Investigations by the MBVV crime branch revealed that in both cases, the accused operated in a similar manner.
During an investigation led by police inspector Pramod Badak, a team noticed that the accused were using multiple ATM cards from different banks and zeroing in on an occupied ATM kiosk.
After identifying their target, the duo got into the ATM with the victim pretending to withdraw cash.
One of the two (accused) would keep track of the victim’s ATM pin and memorize it, while the other offered the victim assistance. One of the two would replace the victim’s ATM card with a fake card and then use the new card to retrieve the victim’s money, according to a police officer.
Police found that Deepak has 12 criminal cases registered against him in various police stations in Uttar Pradesh after scanning their past records. They are continuing their investigation.