Mumbai Police announced on Tuesday the bust of a gang involved in defrauding ATM users by placing bandages on ATM card slots to trap cards and later withdrawing money from victims’ accounts. Three accused have been arrested by the Malad Police.
The accused—Mohammad Arif Yusuf Khan, Abdul Haqiq Khan, and Danish Ali Khan—are residents of Uttar Pradesh currently living in a rented room in Mumbai.
The gang operated across multiple Mumbai suburbs, including Andheri, Bandra, Kandivali, Borivali, Chembur, and Malad, carrying out numerous ATM frauds.
The case surfaced after a Malad resident reported his ATM card stuck in a government bank’s ATM. While trying to retrieve it, one of the accused offered help, noted the victim’s PIN, and later replaced the card with a fake one. Subsequently, Rs 40,000 was withdrawn from the victim’s account, prompting a complaint to Malad Police.
A team led by Senior Inspector Dushyant Chavan, with API Deepak Raiwade and the detection unit, launched an investigation. CCTV footage helped identify a suspicious vehicle linked to the accused.
During interrogation, the trio confessed to multiple similar frauds. Police revealed Abdul and Danish have prior criminal records. Mohammad works as a car driver, Abdul as a truck driver, and Danish as a labourer.
All three have been remanded in police custody for further investigation. Authorities expect these arrests will help solve several pending ATM fraud cases, said a Malad Police officer.
