How a conman stole ATM cards, PINs to purloin cash

Rojina Akter, a middle-aged woman, went to a Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited's Fast Track ATM booth at Goran in the capital's Khilgaon to withdraw some cash.

She needed to withdraw the money quickly to pay her rent though she did not know very well how automated teller machines work. Rojina had learned how to withdraw money from ATMs very recently, as her elder son opened an account in her name a few months ago and taught her how to use the debit card.

Meanwhile, Shahidul Islam Shahid, a cunning thief who steals ATM cards and personal identification numbers (PINs) from people, was waiting outside the ATM booth for a long time. As he saw Rojina entering the booth, he followed her.

There was no one else in the ATM booth other than Rojina and Shahidul, as the security guard was standing outside.

Shahidul told Rojina: "The ATM booth has mechanical problems. If you follow the usual process, you cannot withdraw money. Let me help you."

Rojina naively believed the lie and gave Shahidul her debit card.

After that, Shahidul pressed the "Mobile Banking Option" button on the ATM and an option appeared on the screen asking for a registered mobile account number. But Shahidul asked Rojina to enter her card's PIN there. When she did that, the PIN became visible and Shahidul could see it.

His apparent attempt to withdraw money from the machine failed as he was not following the proper procedure. He lied to Rojina again that the ATM has some serious problems.

When the money did not come out of the ATM, Shahidul pulled out the card from the machine but instead of returning it to Rojina, he swapped the card with another unusable one and returned that to Rojina.

Rojina left the booth believing that the machine was not working, and withdrawing money was not possible.

After Rojina left, Shahidul entered the card into the ATM and withdrew all the money from her account using the PIN.

"Rojina was not the only victim of Shahidul's trickery. He has stolen many debit cards and their PINs and later stole money from those accounts. He confessed to his crimes under Section 164 on September 8," said Arifur Rahman, inspector of Khilgaon zonal team of the Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police.  

On September 5, a fraud and theft case was filed with Khilgaon Police Station by Moshiur Rahman, head of the Alternate Delivery Channel of Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited. Police arrested Shahidul from Mirpur's Shewrapara area on the same day.
Inspector Arifur also said card theft was Shahidul's only occupation.

"He confessed to coming to Dhaka from his hometown, Madaripur, with the intention of conning middle-aged women. He also committed such crimes in other districts," added Arifur.