We’re often appalled and sometimes tickled by weird stories of conmen trying the latest hacks to steal money from ATMs. In recent times, con artists have had to get more creative. Yet this Gujarat man tried the simplest trick in the book. And it worked!
Surat based, Harsh Patel simply stuck his fingers in the withdrawal slot in the hopes of pumping out some extra cash. The double whammy is that his account wasn’t even debited for the extra notes that poured out!
Patel was apprehended by a Union Bank manager who caught on to his tomfoolery. The Chandkheda Police narrated the incident to TOI. When Anup Singh (UBI manager), tried to tally the ATM records at the end of the day, the numbers didn’t match.
When this mystery persisted for a few days, the man got suspicious. Sub-inspector VR Desai revealed the method by which Patel duped the ATM. The accused apparently blocked the cash dispenser and put his fingers into it when it was time for the money to pop out. This ensured the machine recorded the transaction as failed. Since the moolah was already in the dispenser tray, he’d managed to grab the notes swiftly.
Wondering just how much cash he was able to get away with? Well, Patel withdrew Rs 1.54 lakh before he was detected and of course, it was never debited from his account!
While he attempted to avoid persecution by keeping the sums low, the cheating went on from July to November 2018. Patel’s withdrawals were usually between Rs 9,800 and Rs 15,000. Following Harsh’s arrest, he is being probed about the issue.accused has been arrested and is being probed.
There’s clearly no limit to desi jugaad. If only it was channelled into more lawful means, the sky would be the limit to what we might achieve!