Taking advantage of her being uneducated, an unidentified youth swapped her ATM card with his, and emptied her account
Taking advantage of her being uneducated, an unidentified youth swapped her ATM card with his, and emptied her account
An uneducated woman was cheated of Rs 3 lakh by an unidentified youth when she asked him to help her
withdraw cash from an ATM. 
Deceived: The youth swapped his card with that of Amaravatamma's
and withdrew all the money from her account. Pics/Sanjay MD
Amaravatamma K (45), who is uneducated, had given her ATM card to the youth, but she later found out to her horror that the returned card was not hers, and there was no money left in her account as well. Despite her complaint, and the fact that the cops have the CCTV footage, nothing has been done in the last 11 days.
Lost all
Amaravatamma lost her husband, who was a group D employee in forest department, two years ago. She herself had been working as a peon at a government school.
Amaravatamma has an 18-year-old mentally challenged son and two unmarried daughters. To look after her son and to make ends meet, she had even stopped her daughters' education.
After her husband's death Government paid a compensation amount of Rs 3 lakh, and a monthly stipend. She deposited this amount in an SBI account, and would withdraw money whenever she needed it.
But she didn't know how to use the ATM card, and would always ask the security guard to help her make a transaction.
She went to the ATM on November 1, but the security guard was not present at his usual spot. After waiting for 10 minutes, she asked a youth who had also come to withdraw money to help her. The youth agreed, took her PIN number, withdrew money for her, and returned her the card. But unknown to her, he had given her his own ATM card, which had no money.
Late realisation
A few days later, on November 8, she went to check her monthly payment inclusion in her account and was told that there was no money in her account by the bank staff. It was only then, that she realised that she had been cheated.
Amaravatamma immediately registered a complaint with the Hosakote police station. She provided them the CCTV visuals taken from the bank, and the ATM card, but no action has been taken yet. The only answer she got from officers after repeated inquiries was a trite "We are investigating the case."
Amaravatamma is now clueless about her family's future, since she had planned to use that money to construct.
When this reporter contacted Inspector Mallesh PI from Hosakote police station, he said, "It's her fault because she gave her ATM card to an unknown person. We are doing our duty, but it will take some time to find the culprit."
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