A Romanian national was arrested today from the Goa capital for allegedly installing skimming devices in ATMs of various banks in the state, police said.
Alexa Patrica (28) was picked up by Panaji police personnel who spotted him roaming in the city in a suspicious manner, an official said.
Police are investigating whether Patrica withdrew the money through skimming devices or is a part of a racket.
Police Inspector Siddhanth Shirodkar said the arrest of Patrica, who is on tour of Goa, would help them in solving a number of cases wherein unsuspecting people have lost their money due to skimming devices attached to ATM devices.
A skimming device is a card reader which can be disguised to look like a part of the ATM machine. It saves the users' card number and pin code, which is then replicated into a counterfeit copy for theft.
A senior police officer said the accused has confessed to his involvement in attaching skimming devices to ATM machines in at least three places---Panaji, Vasco and Porvorim.
Also Read
In one such case, Punjab National Bank had lodged a complaint that an unknown person had installed the skimming device at an ATM operated by the bank on March 20.
Similarly, several people had filed complaints of unauthorised withdrawals from the Vasco ATM of Canara Bank, he said.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content