Con almost cheats bank of Rs 33 lakh

This picture has been used for representational purpose

The Panvel City police booked five people for attempting to defraud a private bank of Rs 33.29 lakh. One of the suspects had contacted the bank claiming to be the owner of a steel company and even got it to transfer the money. After being informed by the real owner about the con, the bank alerted the other banks where the money had been sent and got the transactions blocked. No arrests have been made yet.

The police said an employee of the bank got a call on July 12, with the caller identifying himself as Iqbal Qazi, the owner of Iqra Steel tube Pvt. Ltd. The person said he had run out of cheques and wanted to transfer some money because of a medical emergency. The caller claimed he knew the branch manager. He said he would be getting a fixed deposit done for Rs 1 crore in the evening.

The employee told the caller that he would need to mail a letter on his company's letterhead. The persuasive caller asked if the account had received Rs 22 lakh through RTGS. While she said no such transaction had taken place, she disclosed the account balance on the caller's insistence.

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At 12.28 pm, a person claiming to be Iqbal Qazi called the same employee and mailed what he said was a letter from Iqra Steel. The staffer then transferred Rs 33.29 lakh.

Within 10 minutes, a relationship manager rushed to the employee saying the real account holder had called to say he had not requested any transfer. The letter too was fake. The bank got in touch with the other banks where the money had been transferred and told them to hold the transactions.

"We have registered an FIR against the caller and the other 4 whose accounts had received it," said Ajaykumar Landge, senior inspector of Panvel City police station.