How did ICICI employee use elderly woman’s account to ‘pool’ & steal ₹4.58 crore from FDs?
In a shocking case of fraud, an ICICI Bank employee has been suspended after allegedly stealing ₹4.58 crore from fixed deposit (FD) accounts and using the funds to invest in stocks. The employee, Sakshi Gupta, linked her family members’ phone numbers to customer accounts and devised a system to get one-time passwords (OTPs) on her system, allowing her to transfer the stolen funds to an elderly woman’s account, which she used as a “pool account”.
Gupta’s modus operandi was to illegally activate overdraft facilities on 40 accounts, allowing her to transfer funds to her own accounts. She would then use the stolen funds to invest in stocks, making a significant profit in the process. The fraud was only discovered when the bank’s internal audit team detected unusual transactions in the elderly woman’s account, which led to an investigation that uncovered Gupta’s massive fraud.
According to the report, Gupta used an elderly woman’s account as a “pool account” to transfer the stolen funds. She would transfer small amounts of money from the FD accounts to the elderly woman’s account, making it seem like normal transactions. This would allow her to avoid raising any red flags with the bank’s internal monitoring systems.
Gupta’s actions were a cleverly planned and executed scheme that went undetected for a significant period of time. She was able to manipulate the system to her advantage, using her position as an ICICI Bank employee to carry out the fraud.
The extent of Gupta’s fraud is staggering, with the stolen funds amounting to ₹4.58 crore. This is a significant amount of money that could have been used for legitimate purposes, rather than being stolen and used for personal gain.
The fact that Gupta was able to carry out this fraud for so long is a worrying sign of the lax internal controls and oversight that exist within some of India’s largest banks. The ICICI Bank has been criticized in the past for its lack of transparency and accountability, and this latest incident only serves to reinforce these concerns.
The ICICI Bank has suspended Gupta pending an investigation, and the police have also registered a case against her. The bank has also promised to cooperate fully with the investigation and to take all necessary steps to prevent such frauds from happening in the future.
This incident serves as a stark reminder of the importance of internal controls and oversight within financial institutions. Banks must ensure that they have robust systems in place to prevent fraud and that their employees are held accountable for their actions.
In conclusion, the case of Sakshi Gupta, the ICICI Bank employee who stole ₹4.58 crore from FD accounts and used the funds to invest in stocks, is a shocking example of the kind of fraud that can occur within financial institutions. The fact that Gupta was able to carry out this fraud for so long is a worrying sign of the lax internal controls and oversight that exist within some of India’s largest banks. The ICICI Bank must take immediate action to prevent such frauds from happening in the future and to hold its employees accountable for their actions.
