SBI’s blunder results in the biggest cyber crime in Barak Valley’s history; Rs 15.8 lakh gone from pensioner

Retired officer of State Bank of India, 65-year-old, Debashish Aditya had lodged an official complaint on Silchar Sadar Police Station on May 26, 2021. His net banking account was hacked by miscreants after Aditya clicked a link. He was conned by a tele-caller who he says almost hypnotised him to do as the miscreant asked.

The miscreant changed the phone number of Debashish Aditya’s net banking account and therefore he did not get any messages. Rs 3,14,000 was transferred from his account to various Yes Bank, Bank of Baroda accounts and few transactions were done to beneficiary’s PayTM account. A FIR was lodged at the Silchar Sadar Police Station, and the copy of the same was submitted to SBI’s main branch. It was written in the complaint that the miscreants logged into the net banking account and transferred the money.

72 hours later, his wife Sunanda Aditya who is also a banker, out of curiosity logged into Debashish Aditya’s account from the bank-end to check what has been done with the compromised account, to her shock, she found out that Rs 15,79,000 more has been transferred out of the account. Debashish Aditya did not have that much money in the saving account, however, the miscreants managed to use the fixed deposits.

According to the State Bank of India’s regulations, Fixed Deposits done over the counter cannot be withdrawn using net banking. But, an user can take loans on the basis of these fixed deposits. The miscreant, after the FIR was lodged and complaint was registered in the SBI main branch, Silchar, continued to access the net banking and created three overdraft accounts. A total of Rs 15,89,000 loan was taken against the fixed deposits and hereby transferred out of Debashish Aditya’s account.

“Not in my wildest of dreams did I think that the net banking was not blocked despite a complaint and an FIR. We are doomed as so much money is gone,” said Sunanda Aditya. She added that Debashish Aditya is physically unwell and partially paralysed. He has undergone major surgery in the recent past. “In such condition, he went to the Silchar Sadar Police Station and the main Branch to lodge the complaint. So many stairs he climbed up and yet, the retired banker got no help,” she added.

Cachar DC, Cachar SP and other top officials in the administration have been informed about the incident. What remains a mystery is why the Net Banking account was not disabled immediately after the complaint was lodged. Miscreants used net banking to commit a crime worth Rs 3.14 lakh. After it was reported, the miscreants continued to access the account using same net banking method and the bankers or Police officials had very little to do.