Bank should pay Rs 74507 compensation for credit card fraud: District Consumer Disputes Redressal Court

KOCHI: The Ernakulam District Consumer Disputes Redressal Court has ordered the bank to pay compensation to the customer who fell victim to credit card fraud. The complaint was against SBI Cards and Payment Service by T. M. Aliyar, a native of Muvattupuzha Puthupaddy.

In October 2020, Aliyar received many phone calls and he shared information including OTP and card number mistaking the phone call as from the bank. The credit card had a balance credit was Rs 39,000 but the customer lost Rs 39,507 due to fraud.

The customer approached the court after losing an amount exceeding the credit limit. The court pointed out that sharing the card number and OTP with a third party was the fault of the customer and assessed that the loss of more than the credit limit was due to the irresponsibility of the bank.

The bank reasoned the loss of money as the fault of the cardholder who shared all the personal details with the fraudsters and said that as per the RBI circular, they are not responsible for this. The court then said that the bank failed to put in place a secure electronic banking system and due to this, the customer lost the amount exceeding the credit limit from the account through fraud.

The bench consisting of President D B Binu Vaikom Ramachandran and T.N. Srividya said it was the shortcoming of the bank authorities that resulted in the loss of money for the customer. The court ordered the bank to pay the cardholder Rs 39,507 and Rs 35,000 as compensation and court costs, within 30 days time.