The circulating public-sector bank merger ‘Gazette’ is fake

Verified conclusion

What this means for member mills

• Existing accounts, IFSC codes, cheque books, internet-banking access and authorised signatories remain governed by the member's present bank instructions.
• Loan, cash-credit, overdraft, consortium, escrow, lien, collateral, LC and bank-guarantee arrangements do not change because of this image.
• Vendor and customer beneficiary masters must not be altered from a forwarded PDF, WhatsApp message, email or telephone call.
• Payroll, statutory-payment, NACH/ECS, standing-instruction and collection arrangements should continue normally unless the existing bank communicates a verified change through an established official channel.
• No accounting, contract, insurance or board-resolution action is required on the basis of the fabricated document.

Immediate action for accounts and treasury teams

1. Mark the image FAKE — NO ACTION in the internal finance group and stop further forwarding.
2. Alert accounts payable, treasury, payroll, procurement and every user allowed to modify beneficiary or bank-master data.
3. Freeze any change request that cites the purported merger. Verify it independently with the bank using the number already held in your records—not a number or link in the message.
4. Check the bank's official website, authenticated net-banking inbox and known relationship manager. For a government notification, require a traceable Gazette ID and PDF from the official e-Gazette.
5. Preserve the original message, sender number/email, URL and screenshots if it asks for credentials, OTP, remote access, payment, KYC renewal or account migration.

If anyone has already acted

• If credentials, OTPs or remote access were shared, call the bank's official fraud channel immediately, disable access and reset credentials from a clean device.
• If money was transferred or an unauthorised transaction occurred, notify the bank immediately and call the National Cybercrime Helpline at 1930; also file at cybercrime.gov.in.
• If beneficiary, mandate or bank-master data was changed, suspend payments to the changed record, restore the independently verified details and review the audit log for transactions already released.
• Inform ARFMA so the warning can be amplified, but do not wait for ARFMA before contacting the bank or cybercrime authorities.

How to verify the next claimed Gazette

• Search the official e-Gazette by date, ministry, subject and Gazette ID.
• Cross-check the Department of Financial Services, PIB and RBI sites.
• Confirm that the PDF comes from an official government domain and contains normal publication metadata/digital-signature information.
• Do not rely on appearance. A national emblem, Gazette typography, file number or official-sounding signature block can be copied into a fabricated image.

Sources and status