"Your life is being ruined right in front of your eyes"
An Indian woman has claimed an ICICI Bank manager stole £1.5 million from her account.
Shveta Sharma transferred money to the ICICI Bank from her US account, expecting it to be invested in fixed deposits.
However, a bank manager allegedly created “fake accounts, forged her signature, took out debit cards and cheque books in her name” to withdraw money from her accounts.
Shveta said: “He gave me fake statements, created a fake email ID in my name and manipulated my mobile number in the bank records so I won’t get any withdrawal notifications.”
A spokesperson for the bank said:
“Our customers are our utmost priority, and we are wholeheartedly dedicated to safeguarding their interests.
“In this case too, we will ensure that the customer’s financial interests are protected.
“In fact, we have communicated to the customer that we are ready to transfer the disputed amount of Rs 9.27 crore (she has already encashed a fixed deposit of Rs 2 crore) to her account with a lien, pending the outcome of the investigation.”
ICICI Bank typically refrains from commenting on ongoing investigations but it pointed out:
“The Bank has consistently sent transaction details to her registered mobile number and email ID since the accounts were opened a few years ago.
“It is bewildering that the customer claims to be unaware of these transactions and balances in her account over the past three years, and she only recently noticed a discrepancy in her account balance.
“This discrepancy ought to have been observed by the customer when filing Income Tax returns as well.
“She alleges that the mobile number and email ID of her account were changed without her knowledge.
“However, our records indicate that notifications regarding both changes were sent to her original mobile number and email address which were registered with the Bank.
“Furthermore, the new number is listed on the website of a company owned by the customer herself.
“Further, as an aggrieved party, we have lodged a complaint with the Economic Offences Wing (EoW) of Delhi Police for a thorough investigation into the matter which appears to be much more than meets the eye.
“We are extending full co-operation to the Police investigation.”
Shveta and her husband, who returned to India in 2016 after living in the US and Hong Kong, said they met a banker through a friend.
As the interest rate on bank deposits in the US was negligible, he advised Shveta to move her money to India where fixed deposits were offering an interest of 5.5% to 6%.
She opened an NRE account on his advice after visiting the ICICI’s branch in Gurgaon. In 2019, she began transferring money into it.
Shveta said: “Over a period of four years from September 2019 to December 2023, we deposited our entire life savings of around 135m rupees in the bank.”
She added that “with interest, the sum would have grown to more than 160m rupees”.
Shveta never suspected anything was wrong because the bank manager “would give me proper receipts for all the deposits on bank’s stationery, regularly send me email statements from his ICICI account and sometimes even come over with folders of documents”.
The fraud came to light in January 2024 when a new bank employee offered to get Shveta better returns on her money.
She soon discovered that her fixed deposits had vanished. There was also an overdraft of Rs. 25 million (£238,000) taken on one of the deposits.
Shveta told BBC: “My husband and I were shocked. I suffer from an autoimmune disorder and I was so traumatised that I couldn’t get up from bed for an entire week.
“Your life is being ruined right in front of your eyes and you can’t do anything about it.”
She shared all the information with the bank and had several meetings with officials.
She recalled: “At our first meeting on 16 January, we met the bank’s regional and zonal heads and the head of the bank’s internal vigilance who had flown in from Mumbai.
“They told us they accepted that it had been their fault, that this branch manager had cheated us.
“They assured us that we will get all our money back. But first, they said, they needed my help in identifying fraudulent transactions.”
Shveta and her team of accountants went through statements over the past four years.
The accountants met with the vigilance team to highlight the transactions which they were “100% sure” were fraudulent.
“It was shocking to actually discover how the money had been siphoned from my account and where it had been spent.”
Despite ICICI promising things would be resolved within a fortnight, Shveta is still waiting to see any of her money back six weeks later.
She has sent letters to the CEO and deputy CEO of ICICI and filed complaints with the Reserve Bank of India and the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi police.
In a statement, ICICI said they have offered to deposit Rs. 92.7 million (£880,000) into her account with a lien, pending the outcome of the investigation.
However, Shveta rejected the offer:
“It’s a lot less than the 160m rupees they owe me and the lien would effectively mean the account would be frozen until the case is closed by the police, which could take years.”
“Why am I being punished for no fault of mine? My life has turned upside-down. I can’t sleep. I have daily nightmares.”
Srikanth L, who runs the financial technology watchdog Cashless Consumer, said such cases are uncommon because banks use audits to ensure these things do not happen.
But there is little customers can do if their bank manager decides to defraud them.
He said: “Since he was the bank manager, she had some implicit trust in him. But customers must be more vigilant.
“They must monitor the outflow of money from their account at all times.
“The lack of double checks on a customer’s part can lead to this kind of fraud.”
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