A suspected breach of the banking payment system has led to a Rs13.96 crore fraud involving Central Bank of India’s settlement account maintained with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in Mumbai. The Maharashtra Nodal Cyber Police have registered a case against unidentified persons.
187 Unauthorised Transactions Across 36 Banks
The alleged fraud involved 187 unauthorised transfers to accounts in 36 banks over three days. Of these, six transactions took place on Oct 15, followed by 88 on Oct 16 and 93 on Oct 17.
The irregularities came to light during the bank’s internal examination, which found no corresponding entries in its branch records, digital banking platforms, core banking system or financial messaging system (SFMS) server.
The bank’s General Manager (treasury) lodged a complaint with the Additional Director General of Police, Maharashtra Cyber, on Oct 22 and later appeared before police to record his statement.
Disputed Transfers Left No RTGS Records
Normally, payments through Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) are processed through the bank’s settlement mechanism, which communicates with the Central SFMS server operated by Indian Financial Technology and Allied Services (IFTAS), an RBI subsidiary.
However, the disputed transfers left no corresponding records in the RTGS settlement account, making it impossible to identify the originating customers or payment instructions. The debit accounts mentioned in the transaction chart also did not belong to the bank.
Partial Traces Found In SFMS Database Logs
Investigators were informed that partial traces of 10 transactions were found in SFMS database logs, although their transaction IDs did not match bank records.
The bank has alerted the RBI, IFTAS, Daksh Portal and cybersecurity authorities, including NCIIPC and CERTIn. Police are examining suspected unauthorised access to the messaging system, the movement of funds and the beneficiary accounts to identify those responsible.
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