A CORRESPONDENT
BOKAKHAT: A cybercrime gang is believed to be operating in Bokakhat, laying traps at ATMs and allegedly cheating customers. A retired schoolteacher has already lost Rs 73,000 of her hard-earned savings to the fraudsters.
According to reports, on July 24, the retired teacher visited an ATM in Bokakhat and withdrew Rs 2,000. She then inserted her ATM card again to check her account balance. During the second attempt, the card appeared to get stuck briefly but eventually came out, and she returned home without suspecting anything unusual.
At the time, two other people were present inside the ATM kiosk. Although she withdrew cash, she did not check the SMS notifications on her mobile phone. Two days later, when she looked at her messages, she discovered that more than Rs 60,000 had already been withdrawn from her account. Growing suspicious, her daughter examined the ATM card and found that it was actually a Post Office ATM card and not her mother’s card. This indicated that the card had somehow been swapped inside the ATM itself.
She immediately informed the bank authorities, blocked her account, and lodged complaints with the cybercrime cell and the police. During the probe, it was found that the total amount withdrawn was Rs 73,000, not just the previously noticed Rs 60,000.
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