Unguarded City ATMs under attack

Thieves physically carried away an ATM in rural Bangalore on July 15, 2010. In another incident, a couple of men entered an ATM booth posing as a repairmen, fooled the guard and stole the cash. In a third incident, a group of desperadoes ki­lled a guard and stole ATM cash in Chattisgarh. All these are hard realities.

Hyderabad has its share of ATM woes. It is increasing, though. The night before, marauders made a bid at the ATM machine of Axis Bank in Mehdipatnam. A customer who came in late at night saw the machine tampered and informed the police. That was around 2:10 am. ACP Asifnagar T Nagaraj Kumar whose team came to the scene of crime, made several calls to the concerned bank, but nobody answered. This was the second attempt at the ATM machine within a week.

Despite the growing risk of lea­ving an ATM unattended or ungu­a­r­ded, most banks have taken no measure for safety. This, some se­nior bank officials whisper, is bec­a­use the banks are compelled to pr­ovide ATM service free. They wo­uld however, not come on record.

A senior banker handling cash in a leading private bank said it is a fact that many banks do not ensure that the ATMs are properly loaded or safeguarded. There are nearly 1,200 to 1,500 ATMs in the twin ci­ties. “There is no proper record of how many remain ungu­ar­ded. In ma­ny cases the close circuit cameras which are mandatory for every ATM are not working. Th­is will prove to be a great obstacle before the police in the event of a robbery at an ATM,” said a bank of­ficial who refused to be identified.

A majority of SBH, SBI, and Andhra bank have guards, officials say. But many banks, including a popular private bank leave the machines unguarded. Last week, the Corporation Bank ATM in front of the Jubilee Hills branch remained faulty for three days before anyone mended it.

It is not well known that most banks have outsourced the filling up cash and maintenance of ATMs. However, concerned banks often do not ensure that the outsourced agency take their job seriously and ensure safety. This is to save expenses, it is said. “But,” said R Kumar, a retail chain manager on Jubilee Hills, “this would cause heavy loss to banks and mar their reputation. What’s the use?” Kum­ar suggests that the ATM service be nominally charged rather than keeping it free so that maintenance expenses could be met from that. “In our country anything free has no value for the public.”

Shaik Hussain, manager of Andhra Bank in Banjara Hills told Postnoon that his bank maintains security for all its ATM machines. “Our customers trust us, so it is our responsibility to see that the machines are well guarded and well kept,” Hussain said.

Additional deputy commiss­io­ner of Police (crime) Zaffer Javed told Postnoon that the police are do­ing what they can but it is difficult if the banks do not maintain their CCTVs in working condition and the machines are not guarded.

Tags: ATM, featured, full-image, thieves, unguarded

Category: City, City News