It is a case of fraud of ₹16 lakh at a bank branch in Varthur, Bengaluru called Karnataka, which was scam in which the gold appraiser and also fake customers were used to defraud the bank.
A report against the said appraiser is filed, and the suspect Ravikumar and others, believed to have conspired to commit this crime, have been unearthed, according to the police. Its earlier findings had suggested the fraud was an illegal Gold Loan Agreement on a fake loan for gold at one of the Karnataka Bank branches in Varthur, it said.
On the other hand, Ravikumar (a gold valuation expert of the bank, too) is accused of giving fake jewellery a high score against real gold jewellery, creating opportunities for fraudulent customers to obtain loans from the bank illegally. Fake gold ornaments were brought to the bank for collection, and accused buyers tried to apply for gold loans, according to police sources.
Ravikumar reportedly told bank officials that when attempting to verify that the ornaments were authentic and complied with the loan approval conditions. The bank made loans to applicants based on their valuation and certificates, too. Investigators say the scheme behind the fraud was not the appraiser’s scheme alone, and many fraudulent borrowers hadn’t been a one-off story.
Ravikumar reportedly got commissions from those customers who had lent money through sham jewellery. The scam continued for a time, until irregularly pledged gold ornaments raised suspicion that bank officials had, the report said. The company was troubled after internal checks revealed irregularities in the pledged jewellery and loan records, however, they said.
In the subsequent stage of this investigation, officials delved further and found that some of the ornaments mortgaged to lend were not gold in reality. After the discovery, the bank contacted the police and lodged a formal complaint. The total loss to the bank is now said to be approximately ₹16 lakh.
In the meantime, a case was registered by Varthur Police Station for Ravikumar, as well as fake customers suspected of having perpetrated the fraud. Officials are now investigating how long the scam has been going on, and if additional people could collaborate on accomplishing that.
The police have been combing through bank documents and loan rolls and have observed CCTV footage. There are possible indications that other fraudulent transactions that haven’t been revealed until now were committed, officials said. There are a few dozen suspects who are being interrogated.
Another one that raises concerns over the validation of gold loans, the incident is particularly concerning in areas where banks rely on trusted external or named gold appraisers. These types of fraud can also undermine client confidence, with lenders incurring significant financial losses where monitoring is lax, experts say.
Simultaneously, it has been noted that bank officers are working with investigators and undertaking an internal investigation into whether there are problems whatsoever in the loan approval process or not. The investigators determined that they should expect greater court cases to be referred.
