Loan scams have become increasingly common in recent years, often involving forged documents and false claims to secure funds. Recently, one such loan scam was unearthed in Dahod district in Gujarat, where 29 persons allegedly borrowed Rs 5.50 crore from two State Bank of India (SBI) branches using fake wage slips and employment information.
The fraudulent loans were disbursed from the bank’s Yadgar Chowk and Station Road branches in Dahod. Two former branch managers and intermediaries allegedly participated in the fraud, allegedly in lieu of bribes. Both the ex-managers have been arrested, along with three borrowers, while two middlemen have been detained.
Two FIRs were also officially filed in Dahod, one at each of the A and B Division police stations. The first FIR names 20 people, including 19 borrowers and a former branch manager, while the second lists 8 borrowers and another ex-manager.
In 17 of the cases, inflated salary slips of actual government employees were used. In others, individuals posed as schoolteachers or state transport bus drivers using forged documents. Many of them were not eligible for loans or did not exist as employees in the official employment records.
In one instance, a person secured a loan of Rs 19 lakh for construction material despite having no such business. Another borrower reportedly obtained a house loan of Rs 2 crore to build four floors of a building but built only two, allegedly using the remaining funds for other purposes, according to a report in the Times of India.
At the Yadgar Chowk branch, 19 loans were sanctioned from June 2022 to February 2024, and 10 were repaid between September 2021 and June 2024. Internal audits raised red flags, revealing past defaults and improper due diligence, leading to the scam being unearthed.
