A few ATMs have a loophole where someone who knows your personal identification number (PIN) can punch it within 30 seconds of your transaction and access your account. The police have arrested a man who used to do just that.

A few days ago, a photographer from Girgaum, Pankaj Pramod Vaidya, went to an ATM of a government bank on SVP road around 1.15am. He found the security guard missing, but another person following him inside. Vaidya asked him to wait outside till his transaction was over. But the man told him he was an ATM supervisor and was checking if the machines were functioning properly.

As Vaidya stepped out of the ATM after withdrawing money, he sensed something fishy about the man. He pretended to leave, but kept watch over the man.
Vaidya saw him enter his (Vaidya’s) PIN and withdraw Rs2,000. He barged into the ATM booth, caught hold of the man and raised an alarm, hearing which a police patrol van reached the spot.

The man has been identified as Bhupen Shivbahadur Mishra, 26, a resident of Daulat Bhuvan building in Vasant Wadi, Kalbadevi, said senior inspector Vilas Patil of the VP road police station.