In Kota, Rajasthan, a bank scam has shocked the city. ₹4.58 crore went missing from 110 fixed deposit (FD) accounts at ICICI Bank. The money belonged to 41 unsuspecting customers. And the person behind it? A relationship manager inside the bank.
Her name is Sakshi Gupta. Between 2020 and 2023, she used her insider access to pull off the fraud. Her trick? She changed the registered mobile numbers on customer accounts to those of her own family. Then, she quietly moved the FD money into the stock market.
If the Bank Can’t Keep It Safe, Who Can?
Most Indians keep their savings in FDs for one reason: safety. But for Mahavir Prasad, one of the victims, even that belief is now shattered. “People don’t feel safe keeping cash at home, and now even banks are risky. What should we do?” he told NDTV after the fraud became public.
The scam only came to light earlier this year—two years after it began—when one customer noticed a missing FD. That triggered an internal check, and on February 18, ICICI Bank filed a formal complaint with the police.
How She Pulled It Off
Gupta exploited ICICI’s internal ‘User FD’ system. She rerouted OTPs to devices she controlled and ensured real customers never saw any alerts. No suspicious emails. No SMS. Just quiet theft.
“She withdrew the money and invested it in the stock market,” said investigating officer Ibrahim Khan. “She even built a system to receive OTPs on her screen without alerting customers.”
Spoiler alert: she lost most of the money in bad trades.
Arrested at Her Sister’s Wedding
In a twist worthy of a crime thriller, the police arrested Gupta during her sister’s wedding. She’s now in judicial custody and facing serious charges.
Meanwhile, ICICI Bank has not yet issued an official statement. However, sources told NDTV the bank may compensate affected customers.
A Wake-Up Call for All of Us
This isn’t just a Kota problem. It’s a trust problem. When someone inside the bank can quietly erase your life savings, it hits harder than any online scam.
It also raises tough questions:
- How many banks have loopholes like this?
- What systems failed to flag ₹4 crore in movement?
- Why did it take a customer inquiry to catch this?
And most importantly: what protections do average account holders really have?
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