- PNB said Rs 7 crore has already been refunded to 15 customers, while the remaining claims are under process
- Suspected fraud amount now stands at nearly Rs 25 crore.
- Woman employee allegedly used six colleagues’ credentials and altered SMS alerts.
PNB Fraud Case: The Punjab National Bank has refunded almost Rs 7 crore to 15 customers who fell victim to an alleged scam in its Greater Noida branch. For the uninitiated, nearly Rs 35 crore reportedly went missing from customers' savings accounts and fixed deposits at the bank's Sector Pi branch. According to the bank, the total amount in the case now remains at nearly Rs 25 crore.
Bank Says Pending Amounts Will Be Paid Soon
The bank said 15 customers have already received refunds amounting to Rs 7 crore. Claims from the remaining customers are still being examined. It added that the pending amounts will be paid once the ongoing investigation confirms the exact details of the transactions. The suspected fraud figure has also gone up considerably from the first estimate. While the CBI’s FIR had put the alleged irregularities at around Rs 11 crore based on complaints from 16 customers, the bank’s later assessment places the possible loss at nearly Rs 25 crore.
All About The PNB Fraud Case
The major scam came to light when several customers began to complain about missing funds from their savings and fixed deposit accounts. They alleged that neither they authorised nor received any alerts about the transactions.
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Following the complaints, the bank initiated an internal probe and found that there was no trace of the documents or vouchers linked to those fund transfers. This prompted a thorough investigation and the bank suspended several employees, including the branch manager.
A case was registered at Greater Noida's Beta-2 police station. As the case became bigger with more customers complaining of the same, the CBI took the case in hand. It registered an FIR as the bank alleged that a female bank employee misused the credentials of other officials to transfer money from customers' accounts.
In its complaint to the CBI, the bank alleged that the woman employee used the login details of six colleagues to enter the Core Banking System and carry out unauthorised transactions. Investigators were also told that several transaction vouchers were missing and that SMS alerts for some customers had either been switched off or altered. The probe has now extended to fixed deposit accounts as well.
It is alleged that joint holders were added without proper permission and that account details were later changed. Several deposits were reportedly withdrawn before they matured, and the money was eventually transferred to bank accounts linked to the accused.