50 private bank a/c holders saddled with Rs 7.5 crore 'loans' they did not take

CHENNAI: As many as 50 account holders with a private bank have been bombarded with default notices from the bank over loans ranging from Rs 20 lakh to Rs 40 lakh. The catch? None of them availed the loan. It gets murkier. All of these loans, to a collective tune of Rs 7.5 crore, were taken out by cyber criminals through their accounts.

With the bank unwilling to buy their story or take responsibility for the security breach -- the scammers managed to bilk Rs 7.50 crore using the credentials of the victims -- the 50 account holders have now come together to take the matter to the RBI and consumer courts, seeking justice and protection. DT Next is in possession of the details of all 50.

Of the 50 cheated, six are from Tamil Nadu, and among them, three belong to Chennai. According to data, 41 account holders were tricked through the FedEx scam, while one person was cheated by someone impersonating as a bank employee.

One of the Chennai victims is a Pallavaram resident, who fell prey to the FedEx scam, and is currently paying an EMI of Rs 38,000 per month for a loan he hasn't taken. He was ‘sanctioned’ Rs 20,00,000, which was credited to the scammer's account in August 2024. He is one among the many who remained clueless about the scam and the loan, and an EMI kept deducting from his account until he figured something wasn’t right.

"I had earlier availed a home loan from the same bank and during the loan process, I was asked to submit several documents. Only after making multiple visits to the bank did the loan finally come through. But this ‘scam’ loan apparently was sanctioned with just an OTP,” he said, requesting anonymity. Neither the bank nor the RBI has responded to his concerns, he says.

According to the data with DT Next, all the 50 ‘scam’ loans were sanctioned in 2024 from the same bank.

Another victim was in tears when she spoke to DT Next from Bengaluru. She lost Rs 3 lakh, which was her savings, along with a loan of Rs 20 lakh, in October last year through a FedEx scam. She did not even get a request for an OTP nor a phone call before the loan was sanctioned.

Though DT Next made several attempts, the officials of the bank involved refused to respond to our queries or comment on the bank’s security breach.