Criminals employ new trick to withdraw people's money from banks

A gang of criminals in Gujranwala have devised a trick to deceive unsuspecting citizens and rob them inconspicuously.

The gang employs a fraudulent tactic where they act as courier service deliverymen bringing gifts directly to people's homes. Once there, they manipulate the victims into sharing their thumbprints on receiving documents.

While the citizens are unaware of the cunning act, these criminals exploit the thumb impressions to withdraw money from their bank accounts.

The Federal Investigation Agency's (FIA) Cybercrime Wing (CCW) in Punjab city, in this regard, has arrested a four-member gang which also includes a bank manager. The gang has, so far, emptied the bank accounts of hundreds of citizens.

The leader of the group, Jalilur Rehman, has been arrested from Faisalabad, while the police registered five cases against the suspects. More cases will also be registered after receiving complaints from the affected citizens.

Modus operandi of criminals

Regarding the gang's modus operandi, the FIA investigation officer said that the criminals would bring gifts to citizens by pretending to be fake representatives of a courier service and then seek their thumbprints on the receiving paper.

According to the investigating officer, the criminals copied the thumbprint of the bank-account holders on silicon and would also use these to get a duplicate SIM card in their name.

The investigating officer added that all the information to log into the account through the customers' digital mobile phone application was