At least 16 individuals, all residents of Uttar Pradesh, have been arrested in Gangtok, Sikkim for alleged ATM Fraud.
According to East district Superintendent of Police Tenzing Loden Lepcha, a “huge nexus” is involved in the crime, with at least 40 individuals, who have come from UP to Sikkim over the past few months, found to be fraudulently withdrawing money from ATMs by tampering with the machines.
Acting on a written FIR from one R. L. Sharma, DGM, Sikkim State Co-operative Bank Limited (SISCO) Bank mentioning that on Thursday, Ujjal Sharma, Branch Manager, Gangtok Branch had received a call from Mr. Prabhal (8130645182), an officer from Cyber Crime Branch.
Uttar Pradesh Police informed that they had arrested a few criminals who stole money from the ATM and upon inquiry, it was revealed that around 40 people had entered Sikkim and they were conspiring to steal money fraudulently from various banks in Sikkim and especially from SISCO Bank.
As such, the informant alerted the Bank manager Ujjal Sharma, Head Office of SISCO Bank at Tadong, Sikkim.
However, on August 30, one of the employee namely Robin Gurung noticed that there were a few non-local people who were inside SISCO ATM at Tadong Branch and was trying to steal cash from the ATM at Tadong Branch.
Thereafter, Ujjal Sharma called the Superintendent of Police, Gangtok, and informed him about the facts as such two police personnel reached Tadong Head Office and arrested both the culprits.