Mangaluru: Fraudsters swap ATM card, withdraw Rs 1.19 lakh

Mangaluru: The Vittal Police have registered a case after unidentified miscreants allegedly swapped an ATM card of a man at an ATM kiosk and later withdrew Rs 1.19 lakh from his wife’s bank account.

According to the complaint filed by Damodar Poojary, a resident of Urimajalu, Idkidu village in Bantwal taluk, he had gone to the ATM located in Vittal Kasaba. Damodar’s wife, Geetha, holds a bank account and due to her ill health, he routinely withdraws money on her behalf.

Damodar entered the ATM and withdrew Rs 6,000. When he stepped out, two unidentified men present inside the kiosk called him back and, speaking in Hindi, told him that the ATM had not been properly closed. Trusting them, Damodar went inside to check the machine.

When he returned, the strangers told him that his ATM card had been mixed up and handed him a card, while secretly taking his original ATM card. Damodar later went home, and during the night, he received alerts on his phone showing that Rs 1.19 lakh had been withdrawn from his wife’s account without his knowledge. Realising the fraud, he approached the Vittal Police Station.

The police have registered a case under Sections 318(2), 318(4) read with 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) 2023.