Mysore/Mysuru: The 32-year-old resident of Mysuru, who was arrested in Chikkaballapur on charges of stealing the debit cards of senior citizens visiting ATMs on the pretext of helping them withdraw money, had turned cheating into his profession and operated across the State.

A resident of Giridardarshini Layout at Alanahalli, B.K. Kiran Kumar had made cheating senior citizens his profession and chose to operate in different parts of Karnataka. He used to travel to different places but was not involved in any case in Mysuru so far. He was arrested in Chikkaballapur on Monday after a five-month chase.

 After pretending to help senior citizens to withdraw money, he would quickly swap the card with a dummy card and retain the victim’s card. Before that, Kiran would record the PIN number on his phone — after memorising it when the senior citizen enters the number on the ATM keypad — and would later use it to withdraw the money using the victim’s ATM card.

He was arrested for similar crimes in Kodagu, Kumta, Shiralakoppa, Udupi, Hediyala and Mundgod Police Station limits and had even served jail terms.

But soon after his release on bail, Kiran used to continue his crime at a different location. Over eight cases are pending to be heard in Courts against him.