Hyderabad: If a person loses his wallet, there is a high probability of his debit and credit cards ending up in the hands of a conman who will use them to dupe others. Such conmen procure cards from pick-pockets for Rs 100 to Rs 200 each and cheat gullible individuals under the pretext of helping them withdraw money from ATMs. Police officials say that offenders most often make use of SBI cards for this purpose.

A. Venkateshwar Rao, the deputy commissioner of police (west zone), says, “Crooks use cards which they buy from local pick-pockets and also give them out to other conmen.” “These conmen lurk around ATMs and once they locate a suitable victim, they approach him or her saying that they will help them withdraw money. In the process of doing so, they switch their victim’s ATM card with one of the cards that they already have. The victim usually does not check the card right then and simply leaves,” says D. Srinivas, the detective sub-inspector of SR Nagar police station. He says that while pretending to help their victims, the conmen also get the cards’ pin numbers.

DSI Srinivas recently nabbed Veeraiah Chowdary, a 33-year-old man responsible for duping people in a similar manner. “He has previously been convicted in two similar cases filed at Kothakota police station and Lalapet police station. He shifted to Hyderabad around six months back and started committing the offence again,” he says.

According to the Cybercrime police, the conmen, after stealing an ATM card and getting its pin, proceed to withdraw money from the victim’s account. Due to the withdrawal limits applicable at ATMs, they also visit jewellery shops and purchase gold.

“One such offender, Kiran, has been committing these crimes since 2012. In 2016, he stole a whopping Rs 1.69 lakh from a single ATM card. There are close to 50 cases registered against him across West Godavari, East Godavari, Guntur, Vizag, Srikakulam and Nalgonda districts,” says an officer from the Central Crime station.

V. Jayanna, DSI of Kachiguda police station, says that such conmen usually target elderly persons who easily agree to accept help in the withdrawal of money. “They approach them, take note of the pin number as they type it, they then proceed to switch the card. In a recent case, a conman was arrested last month for withdrawing close to Rs 2 lakh from the account of an elderly person,” he says.