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NATARAJAN IYER (Proprietor)     26 November 2015

Banks and fraudulent transactions

 

*** Readers and Members, there was a PM sent to me about a member's brother having become a victim of fraudulent transaction and seeking advise to go about the solution. ***

 

I have posted the query and my reply here. So, it benefits all readers and members to wake up to the behaviour of banks and fraud in today's digital era.

 

My Reply :

 

what was the fraudulent activity ? it is better you do the thorough analysis yourself. fraudulent transaction has to be proven. unfortunately not many advocates are technology savvy.

 

many bankers too are not. so, you really have to prove your case. with ICICI, it is much more difficult.they have a rigid mind-set.

 

i speak out of my personal experience.

 

he needs to have all evidence and explanation ready to prove that it was a fraudulent transaction.

 

who was the payment gateway ? what does that firm say ?

 

you may write to the ombudsman, rbi.

they take one or two months to call ICICI and your brother and understand the issue and attempt to sort it out. but ombudsmen are infamously famous for supporting the bank.

 

the case has to be handled in a professional manner. it is complicated and could be lengthy procedure. fraudulent transaction is a criminal offence.

 

so, first file a police complaint formally. the jurisdiction police would be the police of the bank branch location where he has his main account. police complaint is the first step. do that and get back to me.

 

but this is a lengthy procedure and i do not know how you can be provided assistance on this forum.

 

till date, i have never charged anybody for any advise on this forum. but since i myself am fighting ICICI i have a good idea of their approach to issues.

 

but lengthy typing consumes my time and i leave it to you to decide whether you need to go by my suggestions.

 

anyway, first file a police complaint. file a pcr at the court. let the court send it to the police station.

__________________________

 

Member's query

 

sir, my brother lives abroad and holds a account here with ICICI..he just came across some fraudulent activity on his account here... when he called the customer support, they simply seem to take the request but hasnt assured about refunding the fraud transaction yet.he says, usually in the country where he resides, the accounts are insured and they will get credit right away...seems that is not the case here..so what optinos does he have now to get it refunded..does he have to prove anything on his side or does he need to write to RBI or wait for the bank to investigate and resolve it by themself.and what if they are not able to trace it.what is the best approach here to get the lost funds back possible...he has asked for my help here to address this but am little new to this kind of activity and need advise on how to go with it. if it is a public bank,then i have a way to file a RTI in questioning the bank hard..but this happened with a private bank..so need approach before the bank tries to take us ride on this..

 



Learning

 3 Replies

SIVARAMAPRASAD KAPPAGANTU (Retired Manager)     26 November 2015

If you have a pain somewhere in the body, you go to a heart speacilist, he will not direct you to general practitioner. He will make you to undergo all the heart related tests and then says go to normal MBBS Doctor.

 

Likewise, for simple problems if you wish to hire a Lawyer, naturally he will advise you to file a case in the court, whereas a mere visit to the Bank concerned would have solved the problem.

 

Without any detail somebody posts some (may be imaginary) problem, why to react to that!

surendra prakash agrawal (advocate)     26 November 2015

You may prefer to approach to NRI society/affinity which is more effective to resolve and redress your problem on priority. You may write to Ministry of Finance which will take up the matter with Banking Ombudsman.

SURENDRA PRAKASH AGRAWAL

T-113 PALLAV PURAM MEERUT-250110 (U.P.)

NATARAJAN IYER (Proprietor)     27 November 2015

The query in itself by the querist is technically correct.

 

He has identified a fraudulent transaction.

 

Unless he has proved that he has approached the bank for solution, RBI Ombudsman does not entertain the appeal.

 

Ombudsman is an apellate body.

 

But in this case, the bank has not co-operated and co-ordinated well enough.

 

So he has reached out here at LCI, hoping to find the solution.

 

If a fraudulent transaction has happened, he has prove that it was fraudulent.

 

If he can prove that, it is a criminal offence for which he has to first file a police complaint or a PCR.

 

The procedures are lengthy and these involve cyber crime related I T Act as well.

 

So at LCI, a free advise and complete set of formal professional consultancy, free of cost, is just not possible due to the time consumed.

 

Hence I posted here here for all to understand the issue one querist is facing so other readers/ members too can have a say.

 

If he returns formally with evidence, I shall provide the basic steps.


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