Scammers set up fake bank branch, dupe unsuspecting job seekers for 10 days

Scammers in India successfully established and operated a fake branch of the country's largest bank, the State Bank of India (SBI), for 10 days, deceiving people into paying for what they believed were secure job opportunities.

According to odditycentral.com, residents of Chhapora, a village in India’s Chhattisgarh state, were initially surprised when a new branch of the State Bank of India appeared in their small community. While some were suspicious from the outset, many saw it as a rare opportunity to secure a stable, well-paying job.

Among them was 25-year-old Pintu Dhurve, one of six people hired as a cashier at the newly opened branch. To secure the position, Dhurve paid 580,000 rupees (around $6,900). There were red flags—such as the lack of actual work and the absence of employee ID cards—but the SBI logo at the entrance, the 1,000-square-foot workspace, new furnishings, and functional bank counters convinced him and others that the branch was genuine. It was not.

For 10 consecutive days, the six employees of the supposed SBI branch in Chhapora reported to work, only to spend their shifts watching the clock. Their branch manager, who typically arrived around 10 a.m. and left by noon, instructed them to visit the State Bank of India website and familiarise themselves with the company’s policies and procedures. Even when the manager suddenly stopped showing up entirely, no one raised concerns. Then, one day, the police arrived, accompanied by genuine SBI staff, and informed the employees that their workplace was nothing more than an elaborate scam.

When villagers visited the recently opened SBI branch, they were repeatedly told that the servers had not yet been installed and were advised to return the following month. While this story raised suspicion among some, the truth only came to light when a local man, Ajay Kumar Agrawal, reported his doubts to the local police after noticing inconsistencies in the responses from staff and the lack of a branch code on the bank signboard.

“The manager of the Dabra branch informed us of his suspicion regarding a fake bank operating in Chhapora. Upon investigation, it was confirmed that the bank was fake, and several employees had been appointed with counterfeit documents,” police spokesperson Rajesh Patel explained as quoted by odditycentral.com.

The scam revolved around deceiving multiple individuals into paying large sums of money in exchange for promises of stable jobs at the State Bank of India. Police confirmed that no potential bank customers were defrauded, but the unfortunate job seekers lost a total of 1.2 million rupees ($14,300).

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