Bengaluru: An ATM is an outlet where you can go at any time and withdraw cash. The technology is being used to help ease the lives of people. But the same technology can be used to rob you of your hard earned money.

With the help of what’s called a skimming device, fraudsters can pocket your money, that too, without your own knowledge.

These fraudsters enter ATMs, incorporate the skimming device in the ATM machine. But a layman would never suspect it because it looks innocuous. But when he gets inside and inserts the ATM card to withdraw money, this skimming device would record all the details and store it, using which the fraudsters would withdraw money from your account.

Ironically, it is a policeman who has become a victim of the fraud. A constable attached to the Cubbon Park police station got a message on his mobile phone, alerting him that a sum of Rs 37,000 had been withdrawn from Canara Bank ATM, Lavelle Road, Bengaluru. But sensing foul play, he filed a complaint. The police, who took up the investigations, came to know that two Chilean nationals, were involved in the crime.

“Gangello Rafael and Angelo Marvel from Chile are the accused. They used to steal money with the help of skimming devices in ATMs. We have taken them into custody. Further investigations are on,” said Chetan Singh Rathore, DCP, central Bengaluru division, on a local news channel.

Not just on Lavelle Road, the fraudsters have also resorted to the same crime in ATMs of other areas of the city as well.

But how does one spot a skimming machine?

According to Economic times:

  • ·Spotting a skimmer is a rather easy task. All you need to do is check the ATM machine prior to using it.
  •  The card reader section might be extended than usual on a machine that has been tampered.
  •  If a keypad on the ATM seems to protrude oddly, check the keypad for it might be a fake one