Credit card fraud at your bank ATM? 8 ways to save your money
Credit card fraud: The number of credit card and debit card frauds at bank ATMs are rising by the day. In case you delay in taking preventive steps, you will lose all your money. So, what is it that you can do in case of a fraud? Here is a to-do list:
1. The bank must be immediately notified of the fraud. In fact, you have just three days to report the fraud transaction. According to RBI, if the complaint is made within 3 working days, the customer has Zero liability. Image source: Reuters
2. If you do not report on time, you will stand to lose. 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, which means you will not get your money back. Image source: Reuters
3. 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. So, did you provide your phone number? If not, do so ASAP. Image source: Reuters
4. While bank account holders must report fraud on time, the bank itself has some duties and you should keep yourself up to date with on 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. Image source: Reuters
5. 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. Image source: Reuters
6. 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. Image source: Reuters
7. 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. Image source: DNA India
8. 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. Image source: Reuters