Mumbai Crime: Man wanted in several debit card fraud cases arrested

A screengrab of the arrested accused in the crime. Pic/Samiullah Khan

The Kasturba Marg Police have arrested a man who would con people by fraudulently changing their ATM cards on the pretext of helping them to operate the ATM machine.

The police have seized dozens of debit cards from different banks from the possession of the accused and have solved the case which occurred under their jurisdiction. The arrested accused, identified as Niraj Vishal Gupta, 38, was caught by the detection staff of Kasturba Marg police station in Borivli yesterday. During the investigation, it was revealed that Gupta lives in Mira Road and had similar fraudulent cases filed against him. He was also previously caught by the Mira -Bhayander police.

"His modus operandi was very unique as he used to target those ATM centres with no security guards and those people who were illiterate and did not know how to operate ATM cards. He would offer to help them, place their card into the machine, find out the PIN number and then swap the cards with another belonging to the same bank. He would then try withdrawing the amount in front of the victims and state that their card was not operational. After they left, he would visit another ATM and withdraw the money using the victim's card," said a police official from Kasturba Marg police station. Similarly, three fraudulent cases were registered at the Kasturba Marg police station.

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Under the guidance of DCP D Swammy and in the supervision of the Senior inspector the detection officer of Kasturba Marg police station started checking the CCTV footage of those ATM centres and began a search for the accused.

"An autorickshaw was seen near all the three ATMs where those crimes were committed. We then kept an eye on those ATMs with no security guards and finally nabbed the accused. During the interrogation, he confessed to the crimes," he added. Upon further investigation, it was revealed that after every crime, the accused would perform a 'pooja at home. He had recently spent Rs 50,000 of fraudulent cash. We have booked and arrested the accused under various sections of IPC and he was produced before the court and remanded in police custody," the officer added further.

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