RTI reveals a huge loss of money in bank frauds in Kerala
24 Sep, 2012As per information provided to a Right to Information (RTI) applicant by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in the last five years the 36 Banks operating in Kerala have together reported 471 incidents of frauds involving an amount of over Rs. 260 crore. This figure of fraud between July 1, 20007 and June 30, 2012 does not include cases involving an amount of less than Rs. 1 lakh. The exact number of consumers who were duped in the state is not known as more than 70% of banking frauds involve lesser amount of money, which remains un-noticed by account holders.
The highest number of banking frauds in the last five years was inflicted upon the Federal Bank in Kerala which suffered 63 cases of fraud involving an amount of Rs. 71.78 crore. The State Bank of Travancore reported 55 such cases involving a fraud amounting to Rs. 22.39 crore. Other banks were not far behind and the State Bank of India, the South Indian Bank and the Vijaya Bank reported 34, 33 and 32 banking frauds in the last five years.
In terms of geographical location, banks in Ernakulam district had 103 cases worth Rs 108.17 crore followed by the banks in Thiruvananthapuram district with 86 cases involving Rs 50.69 crore.
The ICICI Bank Ltd topped the list in terms of the number of electronic banking frauds committed. ICICI reported 12 such cases involving Rs 23.55 lakh, followed by Federal Bank which reported two involving Rs 84.36 lakh and the Axis Bank reported five cases involving Rs 42.53 lakh, respectively. ATM frauds were reported from just five districts of Kerala during the last five years.