Two rules for fraud victims

The IDFC First Bank fraud has angered many people. I am angry too. But here is the interesting question: why exactly are people angry? The fraud itself, Rs 590 crore siphoned from Haryana government accounts through the bank's Chandigarh branch, apparently by employees colluding with outsiders, is dismaying but not surprising. Bank frauds of this kind have happened before and will happen again. That is not what is producing the fury on social media. What is producing it is something else entirely: Most of the funds were restored or secured within about a day. Haryana's Chief Minister announced that nearly Rs 556 crore had been restored almost immediately. The bank reimbursed the state, including interest. The RBI declared there was no systemic risk. Everyone moved on. And that is precisely what is making ordinary people so furious. They are holding this story up against their own experience, and the contrast is unbearable. Two years ago, I wrote in this column about the epidemic of digital financial scams t