Imagine sending or paying someone and finding that your bank balance has a couple more zeros on the end of it than yesterday. That’s what happened to a man in Chennai who discovered Rs 753 crore in his account in an unexpected turn of events. Muhammad Idris, a pharmacy worker, living in Chennai transferred Rs 2000 to his friend through the Kotak Mahindra Bank mobile app. However, when he checked his account balance he was shocked to see that it had Rs 753 crore. He only had Rs 3,000 in his bank account previously.
On Saturday, Muhammad received a message from his bank informing him that his account had been credited with Rs 753.48 crore. The pharmacy worker immediately informed the bank about the error. The bank immediately froze Idris’s account.
The man sought assistance from the local police as well. It was more of a stressful situation rather than believing it to be his luck. Both the bank and the police authorities are scrambling to resolve the issue. The amount deposited was later determined to be the consequence of a technical error, as told to him by the authorities and bank staff.
A Kotak Mahindra Bank spokesperson said that a glitch in the SMS messaging caused the error. “The incorrect account balance is reflected only in the message and not in the account. We wish to confirm that the customer’s account was not blocked,” the spokesperson was quoted as saying, adding that a team was working on rectifying the error. The bank regrets the inconvenience caused, he said.
Notably, this is not the first time t such an incident has been recorded in the South Indian state. This is probably the third incident in the last month in Tamil Nadu. A man named Ganesan claimed to have received Rs 756 crore in his Kotak Mahindra Bank account earlier. Later, after he informed the bank, the money was reverted.
Another incident was when a cab driver in Chennai, Rajkumar had ₹ 9000 crore credited to his account a month ago, accidentally by Tamil Nadu Mercantile Bank. He had approached the city police commissioner’s office on Saturday alleging that he was worried about whether his bank account was being misused and that there was no proper explanation from the bank for the transaction.
