HUDSON, N.H.–Thanks to an anonymous tip about someone near a credit union’s ATM, three men have been arrested here and charged with using bogus ATM cards to steal money from machines along the East Coast.
The total amount of money suspected to have been stolen is not yet known.
According to police, arrested were Tharushan Nirmalachandran, 30, of Quebec, Canada; Ajitharan Reveendran, 28, of Ontario; and Syed Hoque, 23, of Brooklyn, N.Y. All have been charged with crimes related to stealing money from the machines.
Police in Hudson, N.H., said they received a tip regarding a suspicious man spending too much time at the Digital Federal Credit Union ATM. Upon arriving, police arrested Hoque after finding thousands of dollars in cash and debit cards inside the car he was driving. According to police, the investigation then led to a Days Hotel in Methuen, Mass., where police say Hoque and the two other suspects were operating what they called an elaborate theft ring.
Flew in From Canada
“These gentlemen flew in from Toronto to Atlanta, rented three vehicles, one each, and traveled up the East Coast, ending up in Methuen,” a police spokesperson said during a press conference.
According to authorities, the three man were allegedly using an illegal scanner device to load fake money onto stolen prepaid debit cards, and then using the cards to withdraw real money.
Investigators said they don’t know exactly how many ATMs have been hit, but they are confident it’s more than one.
Police said they found trashed cards in the dumpster behind the Days Hotel, and eventually recovered about $64,000 in cash from the suspects’ vehicles.