ATM card fraud - Jalpaiguri depositors lose Rs 2.5 lakh

TT, Jalpaiguri, Sept. 7: At least 15 people with accounts in the Jalpaiguri branches of three nationalised banks have lost money in a suspected operation by a racket that devised fake debit cards and withdrew cash from different ATMs in Bengal and Bihar.

The account holders with the State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank and Allahabad Bank have filed separate complaints with Jalpaiguri police. They had lost over Rs 2.5 lakh altogether to the tricksters.

Bholanath Pandey, the additional superintendent of police of Jalpaiguri, said a special team had been constituted to probe the fraud and the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) had been approached for further investigation.

"Around 15 residents of the town have filed complaints with us separately, mentioning that the money in their bank accounts had been withdrawn by unknown people. In most cases, cash in their accounts has been withdrawn from ATM counters located outside Jalpaiguri, like Siliguri and even far-flung places like Murshidabad, Calcutta and some locations in Bihar. Officials of all three banks have also lodged complaints, mentioning the unauthorised withdrawal of money," he said.

The police suspect a racket was involved in the illegal withdrawal of cash.

"We suspect an inter-state racket was behind the fraud. Fake ATM cards were created and used to withdraw cash. The locations of ATMs from where withdrawals were made indicate that the racket is spread across a number of states," Pandey said.

Abhijit Roy, a businessman based at Natunpara in Jalpaiguri, was one of the account-holders who had lost the cash.

"I had gone to an ATM to withdraw the money to pay my son's school fee. As per the last balance, I had Rs 32,500 in my account. However, as I checked the balance at the ATM, I found that there was not a single penny in my account. I immediately went to the bank where officials checked my account and said money had been withdrawn from an ATM in Calcutta," said Roy.