The Malad police have arrested two people from Nalla Sopara for allegedly duping a retired woman teacher on the pretext of helping her to get her ATM card activated.
The complainant said that one of the suspects was standing in a queue at the ATM kiosk when she was trying to get her debit card activated on Jan 11.
As she couldn't succeed, the suspect offered help and coaxed the woman to come to another ATM kiosk. As the woman and the con sat were on their way, another suspect – who identified as an acquaintance of the complainant's fellow traveller – came into the taxi, said the police.
The trio then went to another ATM kiosk where both the suspects activated the woman's debit card and replaced it with a dummy card with a sleight of hand.
Woman duped of ₹40,000
The woman then left for home but shortly she got a message from the bank that ₹40,000 had been debited from her account.
She approached the police and the cops arrested the duo after identifying them from the CCTV footage.
Five dummy ATM cards of different banks, two mobile phones and ₹15,000 cash have been seized from them, said the police official, adding that both of them are well-educated and spent the siphoned off money on pub and hotel visits.
The accused have been booked in more than five cheating cases.
