The customer, who maintains an account with SVC Bank’s Mumbai branch, visited the Ahmedabad branch on Friday to make an urgent RTGS transfer. Sensing that he appeared frightened and distressed, the Assistant Branch Manager, Mr. Dipkumar A. Sagar, paused the transaction and spoke to him.

The conversation revealed that the customer had been under pressure from fraudsters for nearly a week. He had been instructed to liquidate his savings and remit the funds. The customer had already redeemed a substantial portion of his mutual fund investments and savings linked to his SVC Bank account. He had also been instructed to withdraw savings of around ₹4 lakh held in another account with a large public sector bank.

Ravinder Singh, Managing Director, SVC Co-operative Bank Ltd., said: “At SVC Bank, we believe in being there for our customers, especially when they need us most. In this instance, the alertness of our Ahmedabad branch team helped us recognise the signs of a digital arrest scam and intervene before a customer’s lifelong savings were lost. This is what being a trusted banking partner means to us.”

The branch team counselled the customer, stopped the transaction and is assisting him in filing a police and cybercrime complaint. The incident highlights the importance of alert banking staff in identifying signs of financial fraud, particularly when vulnerable customers are being pressured into making urgent transactions.

SVC Bank urges customers to remain alert to unsolicited calls or messages from individuals posing as police officers, government officials or other authorities, and to immediately report any suspicious communication to their bank and the cybercrime authorities.