Fence and the Crop ?

A news, I read this morning about a Bank staff cheating a woman - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Bank-staff-who-cheated-woman-arrested/articleshow/17367756.cms - set me thinking. Nefarious activities of some bank staff are as old as the banks themselves and there is a constant battle in progress against the prevention of such acts similar to the lines of virus and antivirus vaccines. People are requested not to read between the lines here!!

While the current fraud stems from the greed of the victim in trying to get gold coins without receipt , thus evading taxes, a deeper analysis of other incidents reveal that most of such crimes and duping are due to the negligence, innocence and ignorance of the public, in that order. From time immemorial, right from the days of class banking, people often considered banks as the most trustworthy haven to deposit themselves. It is this belief and the early bankers' dependability and commitment to it that has made banking come this far- from class banking to mass banking. But, it’s a pity that this confidence is getting eroded with the jealousy of a few staff and the sole 'business only' vision of the banks that the customers' safety and security are at times compromised, landing the bank and its name under cloud.

Some of the common cases of 'belief' based frauds I could recollect are:

Ø  Customer just leaves the cash & challan with the bank cashier/ staff not caring to follow up. The staff used to stamp the counterfoil alone and pockets the cash.

Ø  Illiterate people and those in rural areas give cash to the deposit collectors, who do not credit the same into the customer's account

Ø  During deposit mobilization campaign, stray incidents of staff collecting some amount for deposits , which were cyphoned off

Ø  Nonresident customers allowing their dormant savings accounts to be milked by staff

Ø  Giving discharged Deposit receipts to the staff and requesting them to fill up the rest, which goes into the miscreant staff's account

While all the above are exploiting the innocence, ignorance and (misplaced?) belief of the gullible public by a few fraudulent staff, it is a pity that the bank staff's name as a whole is tarred with the same brush. While only such fraudulent activities always remain in mind, acts of some of the staff visiting the house of the old and ailing customers to give cash from their accounts and get life certificates fade into oblivion. This is understandable as only the evils prevail over the good. 

It is a relief that computerization has answered and thwarted most of the above mentioned and other modus operandi.

For those who are educated enough to understand and were only negligent, please make sure that you have Net Banking access and make sure that your transactions are reflected there. Also, enable the messaging services so that all transactions are notified to your mobiles. Nowadays any bank worth its salt is having these facilities.

In all, to avoid such unpleasantness, it is better to remember the advice of my early trainers that in banks there is no room for trust or belief. Better stick to the rules as wisdom is better than valor.