Aspiring model arrested for ATM fraud

Delhi Police have arrested a 22-year-old aspiring model along with her driver for allegedly cheating scores of innocents on the pretext of helping them in withdrawing money from an ATM machine in North-west Delhi’s Mukherjee Nagar area. According to the police, the accused have been identified as Deepali (name changed) and Shakeel Malik (29).

Investigators said that Deepali, a BBA graduate from Delhi School of Business, resorted to ATM fraud to earn quick bucks to get her portfolio made by a Mumbai-based fashion photographer. Police said that they have recovered seven ATM cards of different banks and Rs 14,000 cash.

In 2014, a similar case was registered against Deepali at the Shahdara police station in which she was arrested and granted bail, said an investigator. Police said that on being asked how she swapped the cards, she confessed that she had searched “how to hack ATM”.

Police said that on July 15, one Anita Rani complained that she had been cheated of Rs 25,000. The woman stated in her complaint that when she went to a nearby ATM in Indira Vihar in Mukherjee Nagar to withdraw cash, a young girl approached her. 

“As the machine was not working, the complainant was not able to withdraw the money. The girl then offered help to the complainant in withdrawing cash. The accused girl then took the ATM card of the complainant and swiftly swapped it with another ATM Card,” said a senior police officer of the North-west district. When the complainant returned home, she received an SMS from the bank that Rs 25,000 has been withdrawn from her account.

According to the police, on August 7, the complainant while crossing the same ATM kiosk in Indira Vihar saw the girl who had “helped” her. The complainant then informed the local police and Deepali and Shakeel were apprehended from the spot. During interrogation, Deepali revealed that she zeroed down on defunct ATM kiosks in the area. She would do her home-work regarding the ATM and the moment a person entered, she followed him/her.