Two Indian citizens deceived their compatriots by implementing a popular scheme in the country involving methods of social engineering and physical substitution of cards. They managed, by making verbal contact with their targets, to first convince the victims to trust them to withdraw money from ATMs, and then to sell them another expired plastic card.
The accused are 23 and 24 years old. Previously, a total of 16 offenses were registered on their account. They got caught because of two episodes. In the first, a 40-year-old woman and her son visited an ATM in Mumbai.
The teenager tried to withdraw 30 thousand rupees (more than 32 thousand rubles) to pay for his education. One of the accused offered to help him, took the plastic card, but replaced it and inserted the left expired card into the ATM. The card owner, unaware that he was being closely watched by a second member of the group, entered his PIN code, which, of course, did not work. After this, the victims left with someone else’s plastic card, giving the scammers the opportunity to easily pocket all the money from the stolen card.
In the second case, a 27-year-old man tried to withdraw money from an ATM in a village in suburban Mumbai. The scheme was the same, and the criminals’ loot was 22.5 thousand rupees (24.1 thousand rubles).
After studying the recordings from CCTV cameras from ATMs, security forces were able to establish the involvement of the accused in about 40 similar episodes. The investigation is ongoing.
The accused are 23 and 24 years old. Previously, a total of 16 offenses were registered on their account. They got caught because of two episodes. In the first, a 40-year-old woman and her son visited an ATM in Mumbai.
The teenager tried to withdraw 30 thousand rupees (more than 32 thousand rubles) to pay for his education. One of the accused offered to help him, took the plastic card, but replaced it and inserted the left expired card into the ATM. The card owner, unaware that he was being closely watched by a second member of the group, entered his PIN code, which, of course, did not work. After this, the victims left with someone else’s plastic card, giving the scammers the opportunity to easily pocket all the money from the stolen card.
In the second case, a 27-year-old man tried to withdraw money from an ATM in a village in suburban Mumbai. The scheme was the same, and the criminals’ loot was 22.5 thousand rupees (24.1 thousand rubles).
After studying the recordings from CCTV cameras from ATMs, security forces were able to establish the involvement of the accused in about 40 similar episodes. The investigation is ongoing.
