ATM fraud: This is what you need to do, if you are a victim

A massive surge in customer grievances has been seen lately due to unauthorised transactions resulting in debits to their accounts or cards. Speculating malicious attempt where fraudsters stole the ATM pins and other data by fitting skimming devices and preparing clones of the ATM cards, several bank customers have reported that cash from their accounts has been withdrawn from the ATMs.
 
Recently, a Delhi based couple became a victim of fraudulent cash transaction messages. They received five back to back messages regarding the transaction where Rs 50,000 was gone within no time.
 
In a similar way, fraudsters siphoned off Rs 90,000 from the account of a domestic help in the NCR region. In yet another case of fraudulent transaction, a person from Calcutta lost Rs 50,000 from her account, just after the salary was credited to her account. The date of fraudulent transaction seem to be the first day of the month, usually the pay day.
 
What to do in case of a fraud?
The bank must be immediately notified or within three days of the transaction, in case of such fraudulent transaction. According to RBI, if the complaint is made within 3 working days, the customer has Zero liability. The customer has certain transaction value liability, if the complaint is registered within 4 to 7 working days. If the complaint is made beyond 7 working days, the liability will be as per the bank’s Board approved policy.
 
As per the RBI circular, banks must ask their customers to mandatorily register for SMS alerts and wherever available register for e-mail alerts, for electronic banking transactions. The SMS alerts shall mandatorily be sent to the customers, while email alerts may be sent, wherever registered.
 
The customers must be advised to notify their bank of any unauthorised electronic banking transaction at the earliest after the occurrence of such transaction, and informed that the longer the time taken to notify the bank, the higher will be the risk of loss to the bank/ customer.
 
To facilitate this, banks must provide customers with 24x7 access through multiple channels (at a minimum, via website, phone banking, SMS, e-mail, IVR, a dedicated toll-free helpline, reporting to home branch, etc.) for reporting unauthorised transactions that have taken place and/ or loss or theft of payment instrument such as card, etc.
 
Banks shall also enable customers to instantly respond by "Reply" to the SMS and e-mail alerts and the customers should not be required to search for a web page or an e-mail address to notify the objection, if any.
 
Further, a direct link for lodging the complaints, with specific option to report unauthorised electronic transactions shall be provided by banks on home page of their website.
 
The loss/fraud reporting system shall also ensure that immediate response (including auto response) is sent to the customers acknowledging the complaint along with the registered complaint number.
 
The communication systems used by banks to send alerts and receive their responses thereto must record the time and date of delivery of the message and receipt of customer’s response, if any, to them. This shall be important in determining the extent of a customer’s liability.

Watch this Zee Business video here:

 
The banks may not offer facility of electronic transactions, other than ATM cash withdrawals, to customers who do not provide mobile numbers to the bank.
 
On receipt of report of an unauthorised transaction from the customer, banks must take immediate steps to prevent further unauthorise transactions in the account.