Balasore: A three-member team of the State Bank of India (SBI) started an inquiry Friday into the alleged fraud at the bank’s customer care centre at Jhampura Bazaar in Chandipur of Balasore district.
The matter came to the fore after some customers alleged that their money was fraudulently withdrawn from their accounts.
According to sources, a customer, Gitanjali Singh, had opened a bank account in 2016 with a deposit of Rs 39,900. However, Gitanjali was taken aback when she later found that there was not a single rupee left in her account.
When she found that all her money was withdrawn from the account, Gitanjali lodged a complaint. Not only Gitanjali, several other customers who have bank accounts in the branch also raised similar allegations.
“I had deposited the money by selling my cattle. When I went to withdraw the money, the bank staff told me that there is a problem in the Aadhaar finger print scanning and for that reason my money can’t be withdrawn. Later, I went to the main branch and found there was no cash in my account,” Gitanjali said.
On the other hand, official of bank’s customer care centre, Satyabrata Panigrahi, said the concerned personnel at the centre have defrauded customers without their knowledge. He also assured that the affected customers will get their money back.
“People in the locality are illiterate and the staff might have taken advantage of it. We are inquiring the incident and will submit a report to the head office after which appropriate action will be taken,” bank’s regional manager Biswanath Guru said.
PNN
