An investigation into unauthorised transactions worth nearly ₹17 crore at Punjab National Bank (PNB) has revealed that an employee from Greater Noida, along with her friend, allegedly planned an organised operation to siphon money from account holders using the Core Banking System (CBS) IDs of six bank officials.
A CBS user ID is a unique identifier assigned to bank staff, administrators, or authorised operators to log into the bank’s central software platform.
According to the FIR, accessed by HT, a woman, a resident of Sakipur village in Greater Noida and posted at PNB’s Greater Noida Accher Pi-1 branch as assistant, carried out illegal transactions with the help of a man who is a resident of Accher and an account holder at the Pi-1 branch. The investigation also found the involvement of six account holders and other individuals.
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According to the FIR, an account holder named Sangita, who maintained a savings account at the bank, discovered three unknown transactions dated September 16, 2026, when she updated her passbook. She had neither authorised nor consented to these transactions.
{{/usCountry}}According to the FIR, an account holder named Sangita, who maintained a savings account at the bank, discovered three unknown transactions dated September 16, 2026, when she updated her passbook. She had neither authorised nor consented to these transactions.
{{/usCountry}}“When she approached the bank, the suspected woman convinced her of the genuineness of the transactions,” the FIR reads.
However, when Sangita’s husband approached the branch manager regarding the irregularities, the manager questioned the suspect.
The suspect told the manager that Sangita had invested in a property and transferred the amount to a man’s account, the suspect’s friend.
However, the vouchers supporting the disputed transactions were missing. The suspect later revealed that, with the help of an account holder known to her, she carried out unauthorised debits from customers’ accounts by misusing branch officials’ credentials without their knowledge or consent.
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“She also revealed that she had destroyed the vouchers related to these transactions and disabled mobile transaction alerts,” the FIR stated.
When officials examined her friend’s account, they found that the suspect woman had opened it. All the money was transferred directly to her friend’s account and then to six other accounts associated with him. The bank found that the CBS IDs of the senior branch manager, senior customer service associate, two customer service associates, an RM-Scale I, and another officer were used to carry out the unauthorised transactions.
“The unauthorised transactions were carried out over three years,” the FIR added.
Whether all six officials shared their CBS IDs with their consent is part of the investigation, the police added.
ACP (Greater Noida) Sanchit Sharma said, “The case is now being registered with the CBI, and they are investigating it. We will hand over our investigation following the procedure.”
The FIR mentioned transactions worth ₹12.12 crore.
A police officer privy to the investigation said, “Around 35 account holders have approached the police so far. The total unauthorised transactions stand around ₹17 crore.”