Rinku Ghosh shocked to discover bank fraud after a CRN number was created in her name without her knowledge

A routine visit to open a bank account turned into an alarming discovery for actress Rinku Ghosh, who was informed by bank officials that a Customer Registration Number (CRN) already existed in her name, preventing her from opening a new account. The actress shares, “When I went to open an account, I was told that a CRN had already been created in my name. This was shocking since I had never interacted with that bank before. Upon asking for details, I found the CRN was linked to a male gender, an incorrect date of birth, and an address in Ghaziabad. The fraudulent account was created in 2023, during a time I was away shooting for my TV show, Junooniyat. I would have never known about this issue had I not visited the bank recently to open a new account.”
The bank informed her that the fraudulent account was opened at a branch in Goregaon, and she was advised to visit the branch for further investigation. There, she was told the issue might have stemmed from a FASTag registration. However, Rinku clarified, “I don’t drive and have never applied for a FASTag. Even if I had, why would I provide false details? Everything linked to the account was incorrect.”
Rinku suspected insider involvement and raised this with the bank officials. She recounts, “The manager asked how the photo on the fraudulent account was sourced. I explained that it was likely taken during my Aadhaar Card update in 2017 when I changed my maiden name to my husband’s name and updated my address. At the time, I submitted official documents, trusting the government’s system for security. The bank officials investigated and confirmed that the fraudulent account was created by one of their own employees, who no longer works there.”

Despite wanting to take legal action, Rinku was unable to file a formal complaint because the fraudulent account wasn’t fully operational. She explains, “A bank official from my building advised me this wasn’t a case for the police but for cybercrime authorities. I wanted to report the matter to the cybercrime department, but since the account wasn’t operational, it didn’t qualify as a complete crime. I managed to close the CRN linked to my name. However, my biggest concern is the safety of our personal documents. If we can’t trust banks with our data, where can we turn for security in this digital age?”