Hyderabad: Two graduates arrested for cybercrime

Kukatpally: The KPHB police on Friday arrested two persons involved in cybercrime by using lost or forgotten ATM cards. They were Srinivas Reddy, a BTech graduate, and Konda Reddy, a hotel management graduate. They had stolen Rs. 2.5 lakh from various bank accounts of customers. Both were cousins and natives of Prakasam district (AP).

According to the police, Srinivas Reddy came to Hyderabad in 2017 and worked as a sales executive. He lost the job in September 2020. During the period, Konda Reddy visited him. As he also was unable to find a job, both hatched a conspiracy to steal money from bank accounts of customers. They purchased two Paytm POS machines and target ATM centers where customers forgot their ATM cards.

If the ATM cards were Wifi-enabled and if they were forgotten by customers, the duo siphoned off the money in small amounts to avoid suspicion. They believed that if a customer forgot ATM card he would take at least 2-3 days to get it blocked. They used this psychology and collect amounts thrice in a day immediately after stealing the cards, according to M Venkateshwarlu, DCP, Madhapur.

He said:"After hard efforts by our teams we were able to nab the culprits. They were arrested and sent to judicial custody. The DCP urged the public not to forget their ATM cards. If they lose them they should report immediately.