New Delhi: Delhi High Court has ordered a public sector bank to restore an amount of Rs 2.6 lakh illegally siphoned from the account of a 55-year-old victim of cyber fraud.
Justice Dharmesh Sharma observed that State Bank of India (SBI) was guilty of "glaring service deficiency" as its response was "lukewarm, defective, and not prompt" when the fraud was reported. The court asked the bank to also pay an interest of 9% per annum on the amount, along with Rs 25,000 as costs to the petitioner.
HC was dealing with a plea from a person who became a victim of ‘phishing' and ‘vishing' in 2021 after he clicked an unknown link sent to his mobile number, warning him that his SMS services would be closed.The petitioner claimed that even without sharing any OTPs received on his mobile number with the offenders, Rs 1,00,000 and Rs 1,60,000 were deducted from his account.
The court observed that customer care services play a crucial role in supporting bank customers with various concerns, including suspicious account activity. However, in the present case, the response of the bank was "lukewarm" and "not prompt". The court emphasised that a bank acts as an agent for its customer and, upon detecting fraud, the bank has an implied duty to exercise reasonable care and take prompt action. Instead, the bank "demonstrated a glaring service deficiency". Despite prompt intimation from the petitioner about the account breach, the bank showed no urgency and "failed to exercise due care, neglecting their duty to act swiftly upon notification of the fraudulent withdrawal".
The court faulted SBI for taking no steps "towards chargeback, retrieval, or freezing the suspicious accounts maintained with IDFC Bank and One97 Communication," Justice Sharma noted in a recent order.