ATM cloning gang busted in West Delhi, four arrested

An ATM cloning gang was busted on Saturday here after police got complaints about several unauthorised money deductions from ATMs.

ATM cloning gang busted in West Delhi, four arrested

Representation Image

New Delhi: DCP of West Delhi Monika Bhardwaj on Saturday issued a statement regarding the ATM cloning incident. She said, "We had registered a case on May 11 after we got around 28 complaints about the unauthorized deduction of money from ATM."

According to the police, nearly 88 unauthorised transactions have been carried out in the span of one week from two ATMs in Tilak Nagar, West Delhi. A gang of four members -- Dharmendra Saini, Siddharth Gandhi, Sunil Kumar, and Mayank Shukla -- who were responsible for committing the crime were arrested.

Furthermore, the police also revealed that Gandhi and Saini were previously involved in such cases.

Bhardwaj said, "Gandhi and Saini have around 20 previous involvements in such cases. They have previously been arrested in Jaipur, Chandigarh, and Mumbai."

The accused had targeted ATMs that did not have any guards while skimming machines, plain cards, and artificial keypads were bought online, Bhardwaj revealed.

"ATMs without guards were targeted. The two ATMs in Tilak Nagar did not have any guard. Moreover, the withdrawals were not done from one single ATM," the DCP added.

In another similar case, a Nigerian man and woman were arrested for allegedly placing a skimmer and micro-camera at an ATM kiosk in suburban Kandivali to fraudulently withdraw money, police said Tuesday Samta Nagar police identified the duo as Isahi Ogunle Seyi (34) and his partner, Kharad Rosy Moggy (37), both residing in Nalasopara in neighbouring Palghar district.

"They had placed a skimmer and micro-camera at a Yes Bank ATM kiosk in Thakur Village in Kandivali East. After a customer approached police claiming that he had seen a skimmer attached to the ATM, we started investigations," an official said.

"We placed one policeman in the uniform of a security guard outside the ATM while others kept vigil in the vicinity. On Sunday, Isahi Ogunle Seyi went into the ATM and came out immediately and then started running when he saw police approaching. We chased him down after he had run over a kilometre," he said.

(With inputs from PTI)