In recent times, scams in India have been increasing at an alarming rate, with scammers finding new ways to defraud people out of large sums of money. While the government and various organisations are working hard to raise awareness about scams related to digital payments, some fraudsters in Kerala have turned to more traditional methods.
Recently, Thiruvananthapuram experienced a series of ATM robberies involving two men who managed to steal Rs 2.52 lakh from the State Bank of India (SBI) without being caught for quite some time. These thieves used stolen ATM cards and took advantage of a flaw in the ATM machines.
Here's how their scheme worked
They would start a transaction using a stolen card. Normally, after making a withdrawal, the ATM would provide the cash, but there was a glitch that the criminals exploited, which is known as ‘Timeout error glitch’. They would grab most of the cash but leave one note behind, allowing the machine to think that the transaction was incomplete. As a result, the ATM would not deduct any money from the account, meaning the original account holder would never know that money had been taken.
Eventually, the bank noticed unusual withdrawals that didn't match the deposits. After investigating, including looking into bank employees, they reviewed the ATM's CCTV footage and uncovered what had happened. The suspects were regular visitors to the ATMs and had been using stolen cards. Once the bank brought this to the attention of local authorities, the two men were promptly arrested.
In other news, recently, the government has put new rules in place for the telecommunications industry. These rules, known as the Right of Way (RoW), require all states to follow the same guidelines. This means that telecom companies will have to deal with the same costs when building infrastructure across the country, rather than facing different expenses in each state. Previously, the rules varied from state to state, which made it confusing and costly for companies trying to set up their services everywhere.
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