Kerala Police on Tuesday zeroed in on three foreign nationals, who are suspected to be the key players behind the hi-tech ATM robbery which has shocked the state capital, and chose to seek Interpol’s help.
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The Kerala Police has set up a 40-member team, including cyber experts, to probe the serial fraud in which bank customers here lost lakhs of rupees through suspected “skimming” from ATMs in Mumbai.
According to Manorama News, the police have identified three foreigners as suspects.
We have started proper investigation. Between June 30 to July 10 they have visited the ATM. The three stayed in three luxurious hotels in the city. The three went out from the hotel in two-wheelers. All of them used to frequent the SBI ATM at Alathara, Thiruvananthapuram.
Police said they have seized from the hotel two scooters and three helmets, suspected to have been used by the trio. The racket was busted after many people filed a complaint with the police, following messages they had received on their phone intimating them about transactions, which were unknown to them. To their surprise, the cash was withdrawn from ATMs in north India.
An SIT team had left for Mumbai to carry out further investigations after which it arrested one Romanian national.
The police have also instructed people to immediately change their ATM card’s Personal Identification Number (PIN), especially if they have ran it through the ATM counters at Vellayambalam. In one such footage, a man was seen installing an electronic device fitted with a camera inside the smoke detector tool, to get pin codes and card details of customers. The police said that they have not retrieved any skimmer, an external device which is placed in the card slot to copy account details from the magnetic strips of ATM cards.
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The SBI had promised to refund customers whose money was stolen.
