After Bank of Baroda finds forged demand drafts, cops say many banks have been cheated

Asu00a0if fake currency were not enough, fake demand drafts are now giving bankers sleepless nights.u00a0
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The Bank of Baroda has foiled an attempt to encash four fake demand drafts (banker's cheques) worth Rs 4.64 lakh.

The police suspect that there is a big syndicate working behind this scam.

"Many banks have been cheated in a similar way, but the majority of them refused to complain thinking it would adversely affect the bank's reputation. We have got some leads and are working on them to track the accused," said Jagadish, police inspector, Cubbon Park police station.

The scam came to light when alert staff at the Bank of Baroda, Mahatma Gandhi Road branch, found something fishy with the demand drafts and verifed them with Citibank, which had issued the drafts.

"Demand drafts should have a unique alpha code of the issuing bank along with the bank's name. They should also contain the signature of the issuing authority and bar codes which can be read through a Magnetic Ink Character Reader (MICR)," said BS Mane, chief manager, Bank of Baroda. "Verification found that the person whose signature was on the drafts as the issuing authority did not even exist and even the bar codes lacked magnetic ink."

Mane called up Citibank and informed it. He also askedu00a0 it not to release the amount.

After that, he called up the Cubbon Park police.u00a0u00a0