Duo from Bihar held for unique ATM thefts

Constable M Shankar, who was a part of the special team formed to investigate the cases of ATM loot on Ezhilagam premises, managed to nab the duo after he identified them from the CCTV footage. 

The arrested were identified as Manoj Kumar (26) and Munna Kumar (26). They disable the keypad of old ATM machines by inserting a small piece of match stick near the number zero. The old ATM machines don’t ask the customer to swipe car for every transaction and provide more window period for every transaction. The duo then wait in the kiosk on the guise of withdrawing money, watch the customer struggling and note the 

pin number. 

When the customer leaves ATM, they would release the keypad, enter the pin and withdraw money from the account, said the police explaining their modus operandi. A senior police officer said that the Anna Square police were receiving complaints about money being stolen from ATMs since February. Following this, special teams were formed to crack the cases and Shankar, a member of special team, nabbed them on Saturday evening. 

On Sunday morning, the two were taken to the ATM to demonstrate how they stole the money. In the last week of June, a soldier lodged a complaint with the Anna Square police after  Rs 20,000 from his account was withdrawn from the ATM on Ezhilagam campus. 

The suspects, graduates from Gaya, during interrogation confessed that they learnt this technique from an online video sharing platform. Further investigation is on.