Mumbai: MBA graduate held for ATM fraud, over 100 debit cards recovered

Tufel Ahmed Lalmiya Siddiqui was arrested from Sakinaka area. Pic/Rajesh Gupta

Ghatkopar police arrested a 33-year-old MBA graduate for cheating 109 people at ATMs on the pretext of helping them withdraw money.

The accused, identified as Tufel Ahmed Lalmiya Siddiqui, was arrested from Sakinaka area when he was trying to dupe some people. Cops suspect that Tufel has been cheating people since 2018 and have withdrawn lakhs of rupees using swapped cards.

Complaints of cheating in ATMs were on the rise and Ghatkopar police station had registered 3 such cases. Similar cases were also registered in Pant Nagar and Sakinaka police station. All the police stations were instructed to keep a close watch on such cheaters.

"We were scanning the CCTV footage in the offences registered in our police station and we located one person involved in the crime. Our detection team was working tirelessly to find out the accused and had activated informers to identify the man," said an officer from Ghatkopar police station.

"After getting the information about the accused, we nabbed him. He has been identified as Tufel Ahmed Lalmiya Siddiqui, a resident of 90 feet road in Sakinaka," said inspector Pramod Kokate.

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"Tufel is an MBA graduate and had lost his job a couple of years ago. Initially, he committed such crimes for fun but soon he developed a habit as he was getting easy money" Kokate added.

Tufel used to offer help to people at ATMs in withdrawing money and then cheat them. "Whenever he noticed people struggling to withdraw money from ATMs, he used to offer help. On the pretext of helping, he used to swap the debit card and withdraw a minimum Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000 from the victim's bank account," said another police officer.

Cops recovered 109 debit cards, a car and a bike from Tufel. "We are now gathering information about people whom the seized debit cards belong to. Till now, we have information of 9 offences registered against him at various police stations across Mumbai. He will be in police custody till September 18," inspector Kokate said.

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