Hyderabad, Four persons, among them two bank managers, were arrested for allegedly siphoning off ₹2.65 crore from a branch of a state-owned bank in Nalgonda district of Telangana, police said on Tuesday.
The prime accused, who was working as a housekeeping staff member on a contract basis at the agricultural commercial branch of the bank in Devarkonda town, colluded with a bank manager from the Suryapet town main branch and another branch manager, along with two others.
They allegedly transferred money from dormant but active-balance accounts by exploiting a non-branch online KYC update system loophole.
Based on a complaint filed by the bank’s manager on April 13, a case was registered under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the IT Act. During the investigation, all four accused were arrested, and ₹2.42 crore that had been transferred into accounts belonging to their associates was recovered, said Nalgonda District Superintendent of Police Sharat Chandra Pawar.
Efforts are on to recover the remaining amount.
Explaining the modus operandi, police said the prime accused had gained knowledge of the bank’s internal systems and account management procedures while working at the branch.
He allegedly decided to commit the fraud due to his family’s financial problems and debts, and planned it along with the two bank managers.
Using the bank’s Management Information System , one of the managers accessed details of 10 dormant accounts that had not had transactions for several years but still retained balances.
The accused collected sensitive account details, including names, addresses, Aadhaar numbers, PAN details, signatures, and photographs.
They then used this information to create forged documents through online tools.
By accessing bank officials’ computer systems, the accused updated the mobile numbers linked to these accounts.
They subsequently generated user IDs, passwords, and PINs through the bank’s application and transferred funds from these accounts into mule accounts controlled by their associates.
The stolen funds were then distributed among the accused and associates after paying commissions to account holders involved in routing the money.
The fraud came to light after a system-generated email alert regarding an unauthorised KYC update was received by one of the account holders, who immediately informed bank officials. This triggered an internal review and subsequent complaint, police said.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
