In Bengaluru, a crime wave has been sweeping ATMs throughout the city. Reportedly, it was planned for the first week of July, since most activity at ATMs tends to take place during the first week of a month.

Two hundred people have been made victims of this fraud, and have collectively lost over ₹10 lakh in a single week. Supposedly, this theft was caused by card skimmers, which can capture data from the magnetic stripe on the back of an ATM card.

The criminals also supposedly were using small cameras to record the PIN numbers of each card. These were used in many ATMs all across Bengaluru, and caused a significant loss of data in the process.

Reports then say that the criminals then created copies of the original cards of the users after having acquired this information, which they used to draw large amounts of money from ATMs all around the city.

They stole sums ranging from a few thousands to over a lakh of rupees. The police then received complaints from thirty-five victims of these fraudsters. They have registered all complaints and are currently investigating the scene, hoping to catch the criminals soon.

However, this is not the first crime to have occurred in ATMs in Bengaluru this year. In February, there was a similar form of thievery that occurred at the ATMs, involving a card skimming device in one in Kammanhalli.

After investigating, the police found and arrested a group of seven criminals. Therefore, users of ATMs are told to take extra precautions when using one, such as inspecting the card slot before inserting one’s card and covering the keypad up before entering one’s PIN number.

The ATMs themselves should also be investigated since overly flimsy or overly large devices can show signs of fraudulent interference. Even if the criminals are caught, it may still be advisable to still take these precautions, especially if these crimes continue to occur.

Image from Pxhere (Free for commercial use / CC0 Public Domain)

Image Reference: https://pxhere.com/en/photo/1244233