With the arrest of three accused by ATM Fraud Investigation Cell (AFIC) of state crime branch, the Haryana Police claimed to have cracked two untraced cases of ATM fraud in the state. The police have also recovered 17 ATM cards from their possession.

A Haryana Police spokesperson, on Saturday, said in the first case, AFIC Yamunanagar team has arrested ATM fraud mastermind Jaiveer Singh, a resident of Hisar but was currently residing in Sultanpuri, Delhi. He is accused of cheating people in 16 cases by committing ATM fraud in Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

In January, Ranveer Singh, a resident of Gandhi Nagar, had lodged a complaint with the District Police of Yamunanagar that some unknown person changed his ATM. When he returned home, he was shocked to see that about Rs 90,000 had been withdrawn from his account through unauthorised transactions. The case was declared untraceable by the district police. This case was re-investigated after it was handed over to the AFIC leading to the arrest of the accused Jaiveer Singh from Sultanpuri, Delhi on the basis of CCTV footage and other evidence.

It was also revealed that 16 cases are registered against the accused in different states. Of these, nine are registered in Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh), two each in Delhi and Ambala, and one case each in Karnal, Kaithal and Yamunanagar. During investigation, 17 ATM cards have been recovered from his possession.

Explaining his modus operandi, the spokesperson said Jaiveer used to find different places to commit the crime and every time after committing the crime, he would change his hideout to escape from the police. He used to keep ATM card of every bank in his pocket so that he could commit his crime according to the ATM being used by his victims.

In another crackdown, Rohtak team has apprehended two accused on the charges of defrauding people worth Rs 3.43 lakh. Ajit, a resident of district Jhajjar had lodged a complaint that on 25 July, 2021, he had given an ATM card to his son.

The accused fraudulently changed the ATM card from the son’s possession and carried out the transaction of Rs 3.43 lakh. The case was declared untraceable by the district police. While investigating this case again, AFIC Rohtak team identified the accused with the help of CCTV footage and arrested them in Rohtak. Both the accused Kamal and Sumit are already convicted in other cases and were out on bail.

Both the cases are under investigation and police are trying to get details of similar fraud cases from various police stations to find out their involvement, the spokesperson added.

Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), crime branch Haryana OP Singh said it should be kept in mind that whenever you do a transaction at the ATM, there is no one around you.

“Apart from this, such criminal activities often take place at ATMs outside the city or ATM machines without guards. Keep in mind whenever entering your PIN at the ATM, cover the keypad with your hand. This will avoid any of your personal information going into wrong hands,” he added.