Pune police have successfully arrested Rajiv Prahlad Kulkarni, the mastermind behind a series of ATM frauds that have spanned nearly three years. The 52-year-old, who is 52 years old, targeted senior citizens by swapping their ATM cards and withdrawing money from their accounts and cheated 21 individuals of ₹17.9 lakh. His arrest led to the detection of 166 ATM cards in his house and the confiscation of a car and a scooter he had gifted to his girlfriend. He is currently in judicial custody, and the police are continuing their investigation to gather more evidence and identify any additional victims. The police inquiry discovered that he had been operating this card-exchange forgery in Pune from 2022, taking advantage of the helplessness of elderly citizens at ATM kiosks. His frauds came under the police’s notice after viewing the CCTV footage from a case filed on February 2, where a senior citizen was cheated out of ⁹22,000 from an ATM located in Ganjave Chowk, Navi Peth.
