Policemen allegedly involved in ATM scam in Lahore

LAHORE: Members of the police force were allegedly involved in Automated Teller Machines fraud in the province, it emerged on Friday.

Upon an affected citizen’s plea, CCPO Ameen Vaince ordered SSP Iqbal Town to investigate the matter.

As per details, police personnel raided a New Year night party on Dec 31, in Sabzazar area. During the raid, money, mobile phones, ATM cards were confiscated from the attendees.

Police also registered a case after taking people into custody, however, they were later released on bail.

People received their valuables after two days. Upon switching on their mobiles, they received messages from their respective banks, informing them of the amounts withdrawn from their bank accounts.

During the inquiry, Nawakot police accepted that the ATM cards of people were in their custody for two days. 

The money was taken out from ATM machines in Khushab and Sargodha, it was learnt.

Geo News also obtained the CCTV footage of the incident, in which money was taken out without using pin codes. In the CCTV footage, the people withdrawing money had concealed their faces.

The ATM skimming fraud came to spotlight in the past few months, after which the Federal Investigation Agency came into action.

Hundreds of citizens in Pakistan lost millions of rupees over a couple of weeks after they fell prey to the skimming fraud.

Earlier, a district court in Karachi sentenced two Chinese nationals to one-year imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs50,000 each over their involvement in the scam. 

According to the FIA, the suspects were involved in manipulating ATM machines to take out money.

What is ATM skimming?

ATM skimming is can be regarded as identity theft for debit cards. Fraudsters employ different techniques to record your PIN code for accessing the hard-earned money in your account.

In some instances, the schemers stick a fake card-reader on the ATM, while in others they place a fake keypad on the machine to get your PIN code.

Another technique employed in this crime is the use of a hidden camera, which records your PIN code and conveys it to fraudsters.

A few ATM skimmers also change the entire display of the ATM.