Skimmer, micro camera seized from ATM, cops probe suspected racket

The police said that R Gopikrishnan of Ayanavaram on Tuesday night went to an SBI ATM on Constable Road to withdraw cash. As his card got stuck in the machine, he forcefully removed the card. To his shock, a card reader also came out.

As there was another card reader intact in the kiosk, he alerted the bank officials as well as the police on suspicion. The Ayanavaram police, who reached the spot, found that the ejected part was a skimmer. After thoroughly checking the kiosk, the police also seized a micro camera that was placed right above the keypad, said sources.

The Ayanavaram police registered a case and handed it over to the bank fraud wing of the Central Crime Branch (CCB) for further investigation. A hunt has been launched for the suspect, who kept the skimmer device at the ATM. The police are also going through the CCTV footage collected from the locality to nab the suspect.

It may be recalled that the Central Crime Branch arrested two Bulgarian nationals for withdrawing cash using cloned credit and debit cards, mostly belonging to the US and European nationals in May this year.

In January, nine staff members of an eatery at an IT park in the city were arrested forstealing debit and credit card details of the customers usingskimmer devices.