Hyderabad: Hit by cyber fraud, woman sues bank, wins nearly Rs 1 lakh
The bank in question, Andhra Bank, was ordered to repay Rs 68,000 that was deducted from a woman’s account by scamsters in Haryana and also pay a compensation of Rs 30,000, by a consumer forum.
Published: 11th June 2018 05:06 AM | Last Updated: 11th June 2018 05:06 AM | A+A A-
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HYDERABAD: Amidst growing instances of fraudulent bank transactions, a denizen who fell prey to one such scam has dragged a bank to the court of justice for failure to provide enough security features to safeguard an account.
The bank in question, Andhra Bank, was ordered to repay Rs 68,000 that was deducted from a woman’s account by scamsters in Haryana and also pay a compensation of Rs 30,000, by a consumer forum.
V Hyma, a resident of Secunderabad has an account with Andhra Bank and uses its debit card. On October 13, 2015 when she travelled to Tirupati, she withdrew Rs 24,000 from an ATM there. In the next 13 days unauthorised transactions were carried from Haryana by fraudsters who purchased products worth Rs 68,000 on her card.
The fraud came to light when Hyma went to the bank’s branch in Secunderabad. Shocked, she blocked her bank account immediately on October 27, 2015 and lodged a complaint. In her complaint, she alleged that the bank did not take precautionary measures when the transactions were taking place from a different location. In spite of the police complaint, the bank did not offer any relief to the victim. In December that year, she approached the district consumer forum but the bank did not respond to the complaint. The forum observed that there were not enough precautions taken in securing the bank account of the victim.
“When there has been trust reposed in the bank, it is its responsibility to take necessary measures so as to prevent fraudulent transactions. It is apparent that the opposite party failed to do so in the present case,” the forum ruled in 2017 and ordered the bank to pay its customer Rs 75,000 in compensation. The bank filed an appeal before the state commission for consumer disputes redressal to reconsider the quantum of compensation awarded. The commission referred the order back to the district forum and the bank failed to give a written explanation about what had happened. The forum slapped an additional fine on the bank for wasting its time, asked the bank to pay an extra compensation of Rs 25,000 and Rs 2,000 towards court charges to the complainant.
