Safety of Senior Citizens at Stake in ATM Centre!

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:

The escalating ratio of crimes against the senior citizens, especially during the operation of ATM machines, has become a matter of grave concern in the city, thesedays. Under the pretext of offering help or assistance in withdrawing money, getting mini statements and other bank-related works, the accused are targeting the elderly citizens including pensioners and women, and are usurpingd lakhs of rupees, under the nose of police.

Golden Hour for the accused

According to sources, the senior citizens are targeted especially at the centres having two machines or keeping a close watch inside the e-corners. During a round up, many centres having two machines, were found in busy and commercial areas like Labour Colony (District Collectorate), Jubilee Park, Seven Hills, Town Centre, Garkheda, Cidco N-2, etc. The time from exchanging the ATM card to utilising it is a Golden Hour for the criminals. In the recently held incident at the District Collectorate’s ATM centre (of SBI), during one hour (11 am to 12 noon), the criminal rushed to the nearby SBI centre and withdrew Rs 40,000 (four transactions) and then visited a jewellery shop and purchased petty ornaments of valuing Rs 49,000 (two online payment transactions). More than seven cases have been reported in last two months.

SBI major stakeholder in ATMs

There could be more than 400 ATM Centres of all nationalised and private banks in the Tourism capital. Of which, around 200 ATMs are of State Bank of India (SBI) -- includes 40 directly managed by branches and 160 by bank’s vendors.

When contacted the Deputy Manager (ATM Operations) Vikas Nikalje refuted that the twin ATMs are on target, instead he said that centres with single machine are also on radar. “ Our bank ATMs are safe in terms of technology. The senior citizens should neither share their PIN nor seek any kind of help from strangers in the ATM centre. Personal alertness is the need of the hour. These accused try to engage the targets in conversation and under pretext of offering help or assistance they exchange the ATM card without knowledge. The senior citizens realise it either later or after reaching home. Till then it is too late. If they face any inconvenience in operating the machine, do not get panicked, relax and wait for sometime. Contact the toll free customer care number 1800 1234 or the nearest SBI branch,” stressed Nikalje adding that the bank is responsible for monetary issues related to machines only. During our internal meeting the proposal of fixing a partition between two ATM machines or shifting a machine (from the pair) for safety would be put up, he said.

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55 old machines to be replaced

SBI initiates replacement of ATMs which are above 5-years-old. There are 55 such ATMs which are to be replaced with the new ones in a couple of months, it is learnt. Besides, there are around 20 e-corners set up by the bank near its branches in the city. Each corner comprises an ATM, Cash Deposit Machine, Self-Service Kiosk (Swayam) providing facility of Passbook Printing, Bill Payments, Cheque Book Request or Fund Transfer etc.

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Partition between twin machines

A 67-year-old Shripad Jarare (trader) said, “ I believe that the main targets are ATM centres with two or more machines. The banks should erect a partition between the two machines so that the nearby person standing on the next machine could not see the activity (PIN or secret code)."

Biometric ATMs needed

Retired police officer on anonymity stressed, “ The banks could skip their responsibility of providing safety and security. The biometric (finger print) system should be introduced so that the thieves stealing the cards could not use them even after knowing the PIN.”