Two Romaninan nationals held for ATM fraud sent to police custody

Kolkata : The two Romanian nationals arrested for the large-scale ATM fraud in Kolkata were brought to the city on Saturday and have been remanded in 14 days of police custody till August 18, police said.

They were arrested by the Kolkata Police from Vasant Vihar in Delhi on Friday with 20 cloned ATM cards and magnetic strips used on the cards.

"The two accused Romanians were brought to Kolkata today from Delhi on transit remand and produced to court today. They have been remanded to 14 days of police custody. We are looking for other members of the gang,"said a senior Kolkata Police officer.

Police said the fraudsters operated in Delhi and Karnataka also and managed to fraudulently withdraw money from more than 300 accounts across the country.

Police said they are also investigating whether the gang has any international connections.

Preliminary investigation revealed that the two accused arrived in Kolkata in March and stayed at a city hotel for about two months, police said.

The fraud was committed by the use of skimming machines on ATMs in the unmanned outlets to clone users' card details. The accused then fraudulently withdrew around Rs 18-20 lakh from different bank accounts in the city.

A Special Investigation Team was set up on Thursday to probe the fraud after 77 victims approached the city police earlier this week with complaints that money ranging from Rs 4,000 to Rs 40,000 were withdrawn from their bank accounts fraudulently.