ATM gang's Punjab connection: Ninth accused nabbed from Jalandhar

KOLKATA: The investigation by the Detective Department into Rs 2 crore worth sophisticated Man in The Middle (MiTM) ATM hacking Fraud - where eight ATMs of the city were targeted by fraudsters -has now led cops to Punjab after Delhi and Gujarat. Cops said they believe that one Nitin Somani - arrested from Jalandhar by Punjab police - is involved in the racket.The cops claimed one person who goes by the name of Frank - an associate of Somani - is also part of the gang. Somani, just like the two siblings, also the masterminds- Manoj Kumar and Naveen Gupta - hails from Delhi. While the Guptas are from Fatehpur Beri in south Delhi, Somani is from Krishna Nagar in east Delhi. The detective department plans to bring Somani on transit remand and question him to ascertain the claims made by the eight other arrested men in this case.
Somani told interrogators that the entire system runs from Delhi. "Three people usually came to the targeted ATM. The device is placed inside the machine for which they were provided specialized keys to unlock the top of the machine. Once the machine was set up for hacking, usually a phone came from Delhi telling him that he can withdraw the money. Then, a fourth person came in a car and handed him over the ATM card. After withdrawing the money, he used to hand over the card and money to the car owner. The car owner would have given him 10% of the total amount withdrawn and leave," claimed an investigator. Cops want to know if these calls were made by the Gupta brothers across Kolkata, UP, Delhi, Punjab and Karnataka or if someone else is involved.
While main accused Naveen was first to arrive in Kolkata in January to carry initial recce, it was only end March that the ATM gang made Kolkata their base. For three months, they carried out recce of the ATMs in Kolkata and fixed up the ATMs they want to target. "Md Vakil played a crucial part in this gang and spoke with Manoj at the rented flats. Naveen worked from various hotels in the Tiljala-Topsia areas. The Guptas and Vakil were the ones who had technical knowledge about hacking. The other five persons of the gang either provided them technical help or helped with the local logistics," said an officer.
The police said the Guptas had moved in and out of the city, always booking his rooms through an app where he used to pay by hours and where KYC documentation was not strong. The accused had travelled from Kolkata to Haryana, UP and Delhi - and what cops suspect even Bengaluru - where they hacked pre-identified ATMs and then returned back to Kolkata.