Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Cyber crime in Bhopal has taken a new and alarming turn with the involvement of bank employees now coming to light in several fraud cases.
While Rs 4-crore bank account fraud case is under investigation, authorities have earlier uncovered instances where fraudulent bank accounts, commonly used by cyber criminals as “mule accounts,” were opened with the active connivance of banking staff.
The recent case from a private bank’s MP Nagar branch has highlighted the issue. Health insurance agent Aditya Singh allegedly took a person’s identification documents for a health policy and without consent used them to open a bank account.
Investigations revealed that the branch manager, Sumit Mewari, was also complicit. The account witnessed transactions worth Rs 4 crore before being abruptly closed.
The fraud came to light when suspicious transactions drew the attention of the Income Tax Department, which subsequently issued a notice to the unsuspecting customer.
Shocked, the victim approached the police, leading to the exposure of the bank officials’ role. Following the revelation, police registered an FIR against the manager and two others.
This is not an isolated incident. In November 2024, Hanumanganj police busted a gang that sold mule accounts to cyber fraudsters. The gang members, originally from Bihar, had been colluding with bank employees to open accounts using forged documents, which were later sold for Rs 10,000 each.
Similarly, in Ayodhya Nagar, police discovered that another bank manager had been backing a racket in which multiple mule accounts were created.
In another case, a female customer of a private bank recently reported that Rs 82,000 was withdrawn from her account without any OTP verification. When she complained, bank staff assured her that the money would be returned once recovered.
Police officials confirmed that suspicious roles of bank employees have been flagged in cyber crime committee meetings. ACP Cyber Crime Sujeet Tiwari said banks had been asked to provide details of dubious accounts and transactions. Moreover, they have also been asked to strengthen the ground verification process before opening a bank account.
Cyber officials also stated that under pressure of account-opening targets, some bank staff either knowingly collude with cyber criminals or turn a blind eye to fraudulent activities.
