How a fake SBI branch that came up overnight duped people of lakhs in a Chhattisgarh village

“Upon enquiry, however, they were told that they would have to wait a few more days till the bank was equipped with a server and other banking facilities,” said a police official.

One of six “employees” at the fake branch, Dhurve, a BA graduate, told The Indian Express that he paid Rs 5.80 lakh to land the job, even receiving an “offer letter” that promised to pay him a salary of “Rs 25,000 to 30,000”.

“I was desperately in need of a job. I was working at a common service center when my friend’s sister, Renuka Sahu, told me she would get me a job here. I arranged for the money asked by borrowing money from some friends,” Dhurve said.

There were some red flags, such as the lack of an ID card and the absence of any work. Additionally, none of the employees received any kind of training, he said.

“They asked us to open the SBI bank’s website and learn things on our own. A college student was employed as a security guard but he didn’t have a uniform either,” he said

Despite these signs, Dhurve said the SBI logo at the entrance, the 1000 sq. foot “work space” with a large hall and 3-4 other rooms, the glass and wooden furniture with separate cabins and three desks convinced him.

“There were 10 computers, and eventually, we also got an internet connection. An alarm bell used to ring for lunch at 1 pm,” he said. The employees allegedly knew the man who called himself the bank manager only as “Pankaj sir”, who would come to the bank at 10 am and leave by noon. One day, he stopped coming entirely, Dhurve said.

Village residents who came to open bank accounts or ask details of government schemes were allegedly sent away.  “We told villagers that we will open their bank accounts in October when we will get our servers,” Dhurve said.

According to the police, some village residents grew suspicious of the lack of activity at the “branch” and alerted the police, who then raided the place with SBI officials from a nearby branch on September 27.

The police are now on the lookout for Pankaj, suspecting he could either be a former bank employee or may have been helped by someone with prior experience working at a bank.

“The victims have been cheated of Rs 12 lakh but no village residents have been targeted. Three people, including Pankaj and Sahu, have been booked for cheating on September 27 but no arrests have been made,” Malkharoda Police Station in-charge Rajesh Patel said.