Team Herald
PANJIM: As manhunt for the absconding ATM scamster continues, investigation teams that cracked the international ATM skimming racket on Tuesday are awaiting complaint from ATM card users about fraudulent withdrawals, if any.
The scam was exposed after a nationalised bank lodged a police complaint on finding a skimming device at its ATM centre in Porvorim. “We have asked the complainant (bank manager) to advise their customers to change their ATM PIN. As of now, no complaint has come to us about fraudulent withdrawals. However, our investigation continues as the case seems to be a bigger racket,” a police official told Herald.
Based on the initial complaint, the North Goa police developed local intelligence and analysed nearby CCTV footage that led them to Steven Lazarov, Husein and Radaslov, all of Bulgaria, involved in carrying out skimming of ATM cards at different places across Goa. In a separate raid following reliable information, Panjim Police arrested Abdul Qadar and Gurpreet Singh with two card swiping machines while they were moving around the State capital and Old Goa. All were arrested on Tuesday.
All the accused have been remanded police custody while another foreign national, possibly also a Bulgarian national – Nicolas is absconding.
