Police advise of use secure drop boxes at ATM kiosks

Hyderabad: Following the recent incidents of cheque thefts, leaves the city police have cautioned the public against carelessly depositing their cheques in the drop boxes at ATM kiosks in the city.

A few complaints were lodged with the police, alleging the cheques dropped by in the drop boxes went missing. Police investigations revealed that some people were targeting the drop boxes at the ATM kiosks, where there were no security guards, and stealing the cheques.

“Thieves are stealing the cheques and are tampering them before depositing them in banks. The amount is then transferred to a third-party account in other cities,” said a police official. Every month three or four cases are being reported in the city.

To prevent such instances, police have asked the people to deposit the cheque only in well-guarded drop boxes and advised the account holders to script the cheque in such a way that it gets difficult to manipulate the writing.

Police also found that the fraudsters had stolen the cheques from the drop boxes noted down the details of the beneficiary, and opened bank accounts at a far-off location. “A person will know only after the amount is credited after receiving an SMS. By that time, it is too late as money is withdrawn by the thieves as soon as the cheque is cleared,” said a senior police officer.

A modus operandi adopted by thieves is that after stealing the cheque, they submit some fake documents at a bank and open an account where the stolen cheque is deposited and it gets cleared.

The police have asked the banks to install tamper-proof drop boxes at ATMs and advised the people not to leave blank spaces on the cheques.