RBL Bank employee held for opening fake account used to siphon cyber fraud money

Delhi Police’s Crime Branch has arrested a relationship manager at RBL Bank for misusing his position to open a fraudulent bank account using forged documents. The account was subsequently used to route money stolen from multiple victims in a Telegram-based cyber fraud racket that siphoned off several crores of rupees.

The accused, Irshad Malik, 35, a resident of Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, was arrested on April 10 from outside RBL Bank’s New Friends Colony branch, following specific intelligence that he would be present there. He was brought to the Crime Branch office in Dwarka for interrogation after he did not cooperate at the spot.

The case originates from FIR No. 138/23, registered at the Cyber Police Station, Dwarka, on October 10, 2023, on the complaint of Head Constable Sandeep Yadav of Delhi Police. He had reported an unauthorised debit of Rs 88,000 from his SBI account through three fraudulent transactions, made without his consent or OTP.

The amount that was cheated was traced to an RBL Bank account held in the name of a firm called “Lawrie Trade Exim.” The case was later transferred to the Crime Branch for investigation.

Investigators found that the account had been fraudulently opened in the name of one Manmohan Singh, using his Aadhaar card, PAN card, and photograph, which had been obtained by a co-accused, Harjinder alias Harji alias Sunny, on the false pretext of arranging a job for him. OTPs were also fraudulently obtained and misused. An FSL report confirmed that the signatures on the account opening form did not match Manmohan Singh’s genuine signatures. CDR analysis established that Singh had never visited Delhi and denied having opened any such account.

Malik, who was working as a relationship manager at RBL Bank’s Safdarjung Enclave branch in 2023, admitted during interrogation that he had come into contact with Harjinder there. Harjinder told him he was in the business of opening bank accounts in others’ names and routing money through them in exchange for a commission. Malik agreed. He accepted forged documents and signatures knowing they were fabricated, facilitated the opening of the account, and received commission in return. “He was aware that the said account would be used for illegal activities, including routing of cyber fraud money,” according to the DCP, Crime Branch Harsh Indora. The fraud itself operated through social media platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, where victims were lured with advertisements for part-time job opportunities.

They were then added to Telegram groups and instructed to register on specific websites and complete tasks for monetary returns.

Small initial payments were made to build trust. Victims were then pushed to invest larger sums for purchasing electronic goods. Once significant amounts had been collected, the accused blocked victims, deleted the Telegram groups, and shut down the websites.