CID urges banks to promptly provide documents, CCTV footages to help probe financial fraud cases

The Crime Investigation Department (CID) has appealed to the banks to extend their cooperation to the department by promptly providing KYC (Know Your Customer) documents, Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) and CCTV footages, which would help investigate cases related to financial frauds and economic offences.

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the CID said the KYC documents were vital for identifying and verifying the investors and suspects involved in cases, and that many requests for such documents were pending with banks and financial institutions.

Several STRs remained pending for years due to a lack of cooperation from bank officers. Similar was the case of CCTV footage, which are necessary to identify and trace the individuals involved in fraudulent activities, and help support the investigation with scientific evidence.

At a meeting held with the officers of various banks and institutions at the CID Headquarters near here on Thursday, CID Director General of Police (DGP) Ravi Shankar Ayyanar said 136 cases related to offences covered under the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act, 1988 remained pending due to lack of proper documents.

The objective of the meeting was to address the alarming number of pending complaints and unsolved cases related to bank frauds, which were stalled due to non-submission of crucial documents required for registration of FIRs, Mr. Ayyanar said.

Cybercrime reporting portal

Stating that banks play a vital role in supporting law enforcement agencies in combating financial frauds and economic offences, the DGP urged the bank officials to extend their cooperation by submitting necessary documents to register and probe the cases efficiently.

EOW officers explained the importance of the cybercrime helpline no. 1930 and the cybercrime reporting portal cybercrime.gov.in. The portal provides citizens a quick and reliable platform to report online financial frauds, enabling timely action to block fraudulent transactions.