Kolkata: An unidentified person carried out fraudulent transactions of around Rs 1.3 lakh from the account of a public sector bank customer recently by stealing his debit card at an ATM kiosk in Muchipara area of east Behala, close to Tollygunge, on the pretext of offering him help. This is the fourth such case of ATM card fraud since Oct in the Behala-Jadavpur belt. Police has launched a probe into the Nov 6 (Friday) incident after the victim lodged a complaint on Thursday (Nov 12).The fraudster was standing behind the victim in the queue and had offered to assist him with the transaction. The accused had observed the victim entering his PIN and swapped the complainant’s original debit card with a dummy card. When the transaction made by the victim—who allegedly used the dummy card without having any suspicion—failed, he believed it to be a technical glitch and exited the kiosk. The accused made the fraudulent transactions shortly, thereafter. On getting transaction alerts, the victim realised that his card had been swapped and filed a complaint with police. Police have started the investigation into the matter. CCTV footage and the transaction details are being reviewed.Earlier in Parnasree, cops had launched an investigation after an 87-year-old resident was duped of Rs 40,000 in a similar ATM card-swapping scam at Bakultala near Diamond City West. The victim, a resident of Ho Chi Minh Sarani in southwest Kolkata, lodged a formal written complaint against unknown miscreants after discovering that his public sector bank account had been drained following a fraudulent intervention at an automated teller machine.Similarly, a surge in ATM card-swapping frauds in south Kolkata had left two senior citizens and bank account holders with high-value thefts in the Jadavpur and Survey Park areas.
