Two alert bank managers in state save cybercrime victims from bigger loss

Panaji: Alert bank managers saved two victims of cybercrime from transferring more money to cyber fraudsters after they realised the bank customers were in distress when they went to withdraw the money.

The bank managers saved over Rs 1 crore of their customers who were victims of cyber fraud and already transferred over Rs 1 crore to cyber fraudsters in connection with digital arrest and investment frauds.


SP (cybercrime) Rahul Gupta said that over Rs 1 crore was saved by the bank managers for their customers when they realised that their customers had become victims of cyber fraud.

In 1 digital arrest case, when a South Goa-based victim, Sanjana (name changed), visited her Canara Bank branch at Chicalim to prematurely break her fixed deposit, the branch manager Smita Rane inquired about the reason.

The victim said that her sister urgently needed money. However, her behaviour raised suspicion in the mind of the branch manager. The next day, when Sanjana again visited the bank to open her locker and sell her gold, Rane once again questioned the reason for such large transactions.

While inside the bank, Sanjana started receiving repeated phone calls and began trembling.

“On being questioned, she revealed that he asked her to send money immediately. Rane then firmly asked her to disclose the details and show the number from which she was receiving the calls. It was found that the calls were from cyber fraudsters impersonating officials of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and Mumbai crime branch, falsely claiming that Sanjana’s SIM card was involved in illegal activities and that she was under digital arrest for the past few days,” Gupta said.
After counselling by the branch manager, Sanjana realised that she was being defrauded and immediately reported the matter to police, Gupta said.

Similarly, in another case, HDFC Bank Old Goa branch manager Vinu Thomas became alert when his customer Ramesh (name changed) attempted to make large RTGS transfers.

Ramesh was a target of an investment fraud and appeared calm, making it difficult to detect distress. When asked, Ramesh said that he was purchasing a property.

“On examining the bank statement, Thomas noticed credits from the finance institution, indicating that Ramesh had also sold gold. This raised further suspicion. Thomas contacted Ramesh later in the evening and educated him about cyber fraud,” Gupta said.

“After reflecting overnight, Ramesh consulted Thomas again the next morning and confirmed that he fell victim to an investment scam. The timely intervention prevented further financial loss,” the SP said.