Thieves carry PoS machines to rob victims

This mugger duo has taken cashless transactions to the next level. Two bike-borne men robbed a 31-year-old regional sales officer of a private firm at knifepoint and transferred Rs 16,400 from his debit card using a PoS (point of sale) machine. The incident occurred at Jeevanbima Nagar on August 4.

The victim, Ramesh Trivedi (name changed on request), had arrived in the city on August 2 from Delhi for training with a watch firm in the city.

The shocked victim returned to Delhi the very next day after lodging a complaint with the Jeevanbima Nagar police on the first available flight to his hometown. “I have a one-month-old son and my family was so alarmed that I had to rush back,” the victim told DH.

According to the police, on Saturday night, Trivedi was walking on the 12th Main, 5th Cross after his training. He was on his way back to his accommodation when he was intercepted by a duo on a Duke motorbike around 8.45 pm.

The two threatened Trivedi at knifepoint and demanded that he part with all his valuables. Since he had only Rs 470 in his wallet, he handed it over to the muggers. But to his shock, they demanded that he take out his debit card. One of the muggers pulled out a PoS machine and swiped his card for Rs 8,000 and demanded his PIN.

A badly shaken Trivedi gave away the PIN and the transaction was done. They later made two more transactions for Rs 4,000 and Rs 4,400, and again threatened him with dire consequences if he approached the police.

The two then fled the place on their bike. Trivedi approached the police and lodged a complaint. The Jeevanbima Nagar police have taken the details of the transactions and are trying to trace the accused. Robberies involving PoS machines are a new and disturbing trend, a senior police officer said.