An unidentified person duped State Bank of India (SBI) branches in the city by fraudulently withdrawing over Rs 6 lakh from two cash deposit machine (CDM) kiosks that also work like ATMs. D Balakrishna, manager of the Church Street branch, and A Ramkishore from St Mark’s Road branch, filed separate complaints with Cubbon Park police. They said the incident took place between July 4 and 6 when the suspect visited the CDM kiosks and withdrew cash – Rs 3.4 lakh from the Church Street branch and Rs 2.89 lakh from St Mark’s Road branch – in 85 transactions. As per footage, a similar-looking person targeted both kiosks. The suspect used ATM cards of different banks to withdraw cash. While receiving it, the suspect firmly held the doors of the CDM, not letting it open completely. As a result, the bank transaction records showed the cash withdrawals as failed. Then, he approached his bank saying while transactions showed up as failed, cash from his accounts had been drawn from the CDMs of SBI branches. The miscreant filed an internal complaint with his bank, forcing SBI to redeposit the amount into the suspect’s account, the FIR quoted the complainants as stating. The cheating came to light when bank officials checked video footage to find out what exactly had happened with the CDMs.
