Budgam, July 15: An unknown fraudster recently duped a Budgam lady of at least eighty thousand rupees after tricking her in swapping the ATM card in the garb of help.
Syeda Nighat Rizvi, a resident of Shariefabad Budgam told ‘Kashmir Images’ that as she went to ATM booth of J&K bank located at JVC Srinagar to withdraw money, a person on the pretext of assisting her exchanged the ATM card. “After using my card at the ATM several times, I was unable to withdraw the cash. Meanwhile, a person who was also present there helped me to withdraw money,” said Nighat.
However, after withdrawing the cash, he handed her an ATM card which she did not check and carried on. “The very next day, we received an SMS notifying that bank account had been debited with eighty thousand rupees. I was shocked to find that the person who had helped me at JVC had actually exchanged my ATM card,” disappointed Nighat recalled.
According to the family of Nighat, she was given a fake ATM card by the fraudster that belongs to some Mohammad Iqbal Bhat of South Kashmir’s Tral area.
The incident happened on June 28th and a case was registered by Nighat’s family on the next day at police post Bemina. The family members alleged that even after 18 days, police is yet to find a clue regarding the fraud.
Police official privy to the investigation told ‘Kashmir Images’ that a case under FIR No. 246/2018 under sections 420/379 RPC has been registered at police post Bemina. He said that police had collected the CCTV footages of three ATM booths where from the fraudster had withdrawn money.
“We are scrutinizing the footage collected from three places including Baramulla, Pulwama and JVC. The face of the fraudster is not clear as he is wearing a skull cap,” he said. The official confirmed that same person who has swapped the ATM card at JVC, has withdrawn money in Pulwama and Baramulla.
He also added that the photographic evidence shall be advertised on social media platforms to help nab the fraudster.
It is pertinent to mention that the stolen ATM card belongs to the husband of Nighat, Syed Zaffar Rizvi.
