Autorickshaw driver held for conning elderly people at ATMs

The accused was an autorickshaw driver before the easier money lured him away

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: A 48-year-old autorickshaw driver has been arrested by the city police on charges of defrauding elderly people under the pretence of assisting them in withdrawing cash from ATM machines here.

The arrested accused has been identified as Shashi Kumar, a resident of Vidyaranyapura. It has been revealed that he was an autorickshaw driver before the easier money lured him away. Police said on Sunday that the accused would switch debit cards of his victims with fake ones after withdrawing money from the original cards.

"The money Shashi earned unlawfully by defrauding elderly people, was used to buy gold jewellery for his wife, three kids and himself. Muniyappa S, hailing from Anantapur and a resident of Yelahanka, was one of the recent victims of Shashi's fraud," an officer said.

According to the police, Muniyappa had gone to withdraw money from a Karnataka Bank ATM around 9 am on January 1. While waiting outside the kiosk, Shashi Kumar pretended to help Muniyappa withdraw money and obtained his PIN number.

"The accused gave the debit card back, claiming that a technical issue was the reason why money was not coming out of the machine. Shashi, however, had replaced Muniyappa’s card with a similar one as he made his way back quickly," the officer revealed. Later, the fraud withdrew a total of Rs 16,10,581 from Muniyappa’s card between January 1 and January 19.

On January 19, Muniyappa attempted to withdraw money from an ATM, but discovered that there was no money in his account. He asked the bank employees about the transactions. Muniyappa realised that his card was replaced with a fake one. Muniyappa then filed a police complaint on the basis of which the accused was nabbed.