Intricately Designed National Bank Branch
Demands Money in Exchange for Providing Jobs
A branch of India's largest state-owned bank established in a rural village in India turned out to be 'fake,' and several residents were victims of employment fraud.
Recently, local media such as NDTV reported that the State Bank of India (SBI), the country's largest bank, opened a branch in the small village of Chapora in Chhattisgarh state, but it was revealed to be a 'fake bank' just ten days after opening.
This branch even advertised stable and high-paying jobs. The bank issued job offers and hired six people, including bank managers, marketing staff, cashiers, and computer operators. Pintu Durbe (26) was employed as a cashier there. It is known that he paid 580,000 rupees (about 9.45 million KRW) to get this job. When Durbe went to work, he found that there was no work to do and no employee ID card was issued, which made him suspicious, but because of the SBI logo and bank counters displayed at the entrance, he did not think it was a 'fake bank.'
Durbe explained, "I was desperate for a job, so I borrowed money from friends to get employed here." He added, "There were about ten computers with internet connection, and at 1 p.m., an alarm would sound to signal lunchtime." However, even after the bank opened, the six employees repeatedly spent their time at work without doing anything for ten days. The branch manager came to work around 10 a.m. and left before noon. He only instructed employees to read company work regulations on the SBI website. Also, from a certain day, the branch manager stopped coming to work, but no one found it strange.
However, a few days later, the police entered the bank with actual SBI employees and revealed that this was a sophisticatedly arranged 'fake bank.' The truth came to light after a man who visited the branch found it suspicious that "the server was not yet installed, so banking services could not be provided and was told to come back the next day," and that the bank signboard lacked a branch code, leading him to report it to the police.
According to the police investigation, the hired employees paid bribes ranging from 250,000 to 600,000 rupees (about 4.07 million to 9.78 million KRW) and were offered a salary of 30,000 rupees (about 490,000 KRW). The police explained, "The victims who paid money to get jobs lost a total of 1.2 million rupees (about 22 million KRW)." The police have identified four suspects involved in the fraud and are continuing further investigations.
Residents said, "Villagers deposited money here and even considered taking loans," and expressed relief, saying, "If the fake bank had continued operating, the damage would have amounted to hundreds of millions of won."
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