2 of interstate gang who swapped debit cards at ATMs held

Gurugram: Two suspected members of an interstate gang which used to withdraw money after swapping active debit cards from users with defunct ones at ATM kiosks across Gurugram, Delhi, Noida and other states were arrested from Palwal, police said on Wednesday.

The police identified the arrested suspects as Mohammad Salman (26) and Mohammad Aneesh (21) alias Anji, both natives of Ali Meo village in Palwal. Investigators said that 88 active debit cards which were swapped from various victims were recovered from them. Police said at least four more members of their gang were yet to be caught.

They were arrested on Tuesday in connection with a case of allegedly cheating ₹13900 from Pardeshi Pal after swapping his debit card at a kiosk in IMT Manesar on February 12.

According to the police, the duo used to keep an eye on the kiosks in industrial areas of Gurugram, Delhi and other districts of Rajasthan, where workers and labourers frequently withdrew money.

Investigators said that on the pretext of helping the users in case of any difficulty in withdrawing money, they swapped the debit cards with defunct ones while keeping an eye on the PIN code typed in by the victims. Later, they used the active card to withdraw cash from other places.

Inspector Devender Kumar, station house officer of IMT Manesar police station, said that at least 35 to 40 FIRs had been registered against the gang in Manesar and neighbouring areas.

“They were active in the entire national capital region, other districts of Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh for more than two years. The crime branch is handling the investigation as of now,” he said, adding that the victims were mostly illiterate and many of them didn’t even realise that their cards had been swapped for several days.