State Bank of India (SBI) officials with the help of Assam police have foiled an attempt to hack an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) of the nationalized bank.

Thanks to an alert customer, who after entering the ATM to withdraw money, smelled a rat and informed the SBI authorities as well as the police.

SBI officials said that a highly sophisticated hacking software including a camera, card reader and chip have been seized from the ATM, which was sealed immediately for further investigation.

The ATM was located just opposite of Hotel Rajdhai Regency at Dispur, bank officials said.

“It was a battery operated device which was carefully fitted just above the key pad of the ATM machines,” bank officials said.

The device, they said, can record the PIN of the customer while they  do the transaction only to be used later to do the fraud.

The police have already retrieved the CCTV footage of the ATM and investigation is on the trace the culprits, police said.

The SBI officials said that a similar hacking device have earlier been seized from ATMs in Mumbai and Bangalore in the past.

IT is however, the first of its kind case in Assam so far, they said.