This https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/bank-relationship-manager-siphons-off-rs-1-5-crore-from-elderly-couples-a/c/articleshow/65737555.cms news headline bank relationship manager siphons off Rs 1.5 crore from elderly couple’s account”recently drew my attention to share my personal experience where-in our “Relationship Manager” (RM) tried to dupe our family and the lessons we learnt from this episode.
Background
My Mother-in-law is in the 80s and she stays close to our place. She has a savings account with a private sector bank and owing to the substantial savings she and my father in law had preserved, they assigned her a ‘Relationship Manager’ (RM). Fortunately for us, she is very vigilant. In April this year, she got a message that a Recurring Deposit (RD) of Rs 1,000 has been started in her account. She again got a similar message in May 2018 where-in she was informed that another Rs 1,000 RD has been debited from her account. She was uncomfortable & kept on asking her RM why she was receiving this message when she did not open any RD account. The RM too acted surprised and kept on giving vague replies. On inquiring with the bank, the customer care (CC) representative informed us that the RD was initiated by herself. The CC also looked surprised and told us that the money was in her account only & getting higher interest. There was no need to be worried!
In June 2018, my mother-in-law got another message that another RD had been initiated of Rs 1,000 (3rd RD!). This made us really worried. I spoke with the RM and asked him how the RD was initiated. It can be done either online or by signing the papers, both of which my mother in law had not done and as a result suggested a serious case of banking fraud. As usual, he kept on giving evasive replies. We escalated this issue to the bank manager and we were promised that we will be shown the account opening papers within 3 days as they have to be obtained from the repository. A week passed and despite our multiple follow-ups, we weren’t provided with the account opening forms.
Banks response
Finally, on complaining that the matter would be escalated to the Banking Ombudsman, we were showed only 1 account opening form for the RD out of 3 that were opened.
The papers did have the signature of my mother-in-law & they matched exactly with the registered signatures. I pinched myself. My mother-in-law had opened the account with the bank 15 years back. She is now 84 old & multiple times, her cheques bounce as her signatures never match. How could the signatures on the RD opening form be the exact copy of the registered signatures?
I asked the operations manager does he believe that any 84 year old person can give replicate the exact signature in such an accurate manner after 15 years. The operations manager asked me why would somebody forge a signature for a RD of Rs 1,000 as there is no monetary benefit to anyone except the account holder?
This got me more worried. I smelt a conspiracy.
Somebody was trying to create a record of transactions with forged signatures so that he can siphon the money later on. He was also watching how alert the account holder is. Then & there I talked to the regional head of the bank & told him I suspect a fraud. I asked the operations manager please see her current signatures in the cheques cleared in last 3 months & see if they match. He continued to be indifferent & very unhelpful. He wanted me to give him the details of the cheques given despite the fact he could extract the information with a simple mouse click.
The same day evening the unresponsive RM personally came to our house & started crying. He said he is responsible for certifying the signature hence he will be held responsible. We asked him repeatedly who gave the papers to him for opening the account for which he feigned ignorance.
We took up the issue again with the bank why should RM visit us requesting us to take back the complaint. He then finally admitted that he had forged the signatures and was immediately fired. Luckily, her money remains safe.
Lesson learnt
However, the event taught us many lessons that we would like to share with you –
Be alert of every entry of your account. People will test your alertness by doing small transactions. The bank will dodge your complaints and you have to be persistent to ensure that any changes you demand are followed through.
When one starts getting evasive replies, become even more suspicious. You have to raise your voice & fight if they do not respond.
Please note that this is a true incident that has happened with us. None of the facts above are modified. Also, my mother-in-law finally finds me to of some good also! J
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