Bengaluru: Man cheats elderly on pretext of helping them withdraw cash at ATMs; Arrested

Bengaluru: A 48-year-old autorickshaw driver was arrested by police officials on charges of defrauding elderly people under the pretense of assisting them in withdrawing cash from ATMs.

The arrested accused has been identified as  Shashi Kumar, a resident of Vidyaranyapura.

He would switch out the debit card with a different card before taking out their money.

The money Kumar earned unlawfully by defrauding elderly people, was used to buy numerous gold jewellery for his wife, three kids, and himself.

Muniyappa S, 68, from Ananthapura near Yelahanka, was one of his recent victims. Around 9 in the morning on January 1, Muniyappa had gone to withdraw money from an Ananthapura Karnataka Bank ATM. While waiting outside the kiosk, Kumar pretended to assist Muniyappa in making a withdrawal and obtained his PIN number.

He gave the debit card back, claiming that a technical issue was the reason why money was not coming out of the machine. Kumar replaced Muniyappa’s card with a similar one as he made his way back.

Kumar withdrew about Rs 16,10,581.44 from Muniyappa’s card between January 1 and January 19. On January 19, Muniyappa attempted to use the ATM to get some cash but discovered that there was no money in his account. He asked the bank employees about the transactions. Muniyappa then realised that Kumar had switched out his debit card and utilised it to make the withdrawal.

Muniyappa then filed a police complaint.