How the money is siphoned off

Explaining the modus operandi, a senior bank official said, it all starts with floating of bogus companies and opening current accounts in the name of such companies. “The people who operate in such gangs get hundreds of companies registered with the Registrar of Companies, open current accounts in the name of each such company, and carry on multiple transactions by switching funds from one account to another, thereby leading to circular movement of cash,” he explained.

Once these accounts have a reasonably good transaction history, the company is sold off to the likes of Indrajit Chatterjee who park the money procured by duping various organisations.

Multiple accounts

The amount, thus collected, moves through multiple bank accounts before getting transferred through RTGS into the account of another such gang, which later pays the likes of Indrajit in cash, thereby making it difficult to trace the source of money.

According to Pallab Kanti Ghosh, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime), a number of such cases of bank frauds have come to light recently. Most of these frauds have at least five-to-six common fraudsters. “We have been holding meetings with bankers to sensitise them on such issues,” he said.

shobha.roy@thehindu.co.in

Source: thehindubusinessline