A Powai resident has been defrauded of Rs 6.8 lakh by an employee of a private bank who has now been arrested. The accused allegedly used a salary account in the fraud and investigators are currently scrutinizing over 1,600 salary accounts that were opened by the accused as part of their investigation.
The victim, Harshiv Singh, was allegedly targeted while checking leads online for purchasing a gas distribution agency. The fraudsters posed as gas agency officials and took advantage of Singh’s trust by taking money from him between December 11, 2022, and January 15, 2023. After realizing he was duped, Singh filed a police complaint.
Upon further investigation, officials found that the money was deposited in three accounts of three private banks and eventually deposited in one account. The accused, who conducted the KYC (Know Your Customer) of the suspicious account, was an employee of the bank.
The bank employee had started a corporate salary account by misusing an Aadhaar and PAN card provided by a wanted criminal who is the mastermind of the case. The employee had forged the signature of the account holder to avoid suspicion.
The accused had opened 1,631 salary accounts between May 2022 and February 2023, and investigators suspect that the employee was receiving a commission from the mastermind on every withdrawal. The police arrested the accused after he confessed to his involvement in the fraud.
