Writing the PIN on his ATM card proved costly for a city-based corporate lawyer.
Malad resident Alok Sharma lost his wallet on a local train on Tuesday morning. Minutes after misplacing the wallet, 25-year-old Sharma received multiple text alerts from his bank giving details of recent withdrawals. Within eight minutes, the unidentified thief had withdrawn Rs40,000 from Alok’s account.
“I was on my way to my Curry Road office. I first took a train to Dadar and boarded a CST-bound slow local at 9.49am. When the train passed Parel, I received the first SMS at 9.52am stating that I had withdrawn Rs5,000 from my account. I went on to receive four more alerts about withdrawals of different denominations. When I checked my shoulder bag, I was shocked to see that as my wallet was missing,” Alok said.
He immediately informed his father Ashok Sharma, who then rushed to the bank’s Malad branch to block the card. Meanwhile, Alok and his colleague, Sandeep Kadam, visited the three ATM centres from where the thief withdrew the money.
“Besides the ATM card, my wallet had Rs1500, my Bar Council ID card, voters’ ID card and a railway pass. I have lodged a complaint with the Dadar GRP station,” Alok said.
“We have registered a case of cheating and transferred the case to the Mumbai Central GRP for further investigation as the theft took place between Andheri and Dadar railway stations,” a police officer from Dadar GRP station said.
k_dayanand@dnaindia.net
