Introduction: in this post we will discuss about the decision of the consumer Commission  in which it has said that despite repeated words of question by banks against fraud, if one falls for a fake call and loses money from the account, the bank is not liable to compensate for the loss.

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Fallen for fraud call? Bank not liable: Court

Introduction: in this post we will discuss about the decision of the consumer Commission  in which it has said that despite repeated words of question by banks against fraud, if one falls for a fake call and loses money from the account, the bank is not liable to compensate for the loss.

Also Read- Bank liable for Online Fraud transaction If Account holder not 

Liability of Banks for Online Fraud in Consumer Complaints
Liability of Banks for Online Fraud in Consumer Complaints

Facts of the case :Kurji Javia, a retired teacher from Nana Akadiya, a small village in Amreli district, fell victim to such a fraud. Javia who now  practices lawgot a call on April 2 2018 from a scamster  identified himself as a State Bank of India manager. Javia gave him detailed related to his ATM card. The next day as soon as rupees 39,358was deposited towards his pension in the bank account he got a message that rupees 41500 have been withdrawn. Javia sued the bank seeking compensation saying he had made frantic calls to SBI’s Nagnath branch immediately after the money was withdrawn but got no response. Claiming that the bank could have prevented his loss, he demanded his lost amount back along with rupees 30,000 as compensation for harassment. Later it was revealed that the fraudsters used the amount to shop online.

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Related Legal provisions: The consumer protection act, 2019

Legal issues involved: whether the bank could be held liable to compensate the amount to the complainant or not?

Decision of consumer disputes redressal commission: The  commission rejected the complaint of Javia saying that he did not follow the word of caution and guideline for safe transactions issued by the bank and therefore he was not eligible for compensation. The consumer court said that it was negligent on part of the complainant as customers are what and instructed by the bank through advisories, guidelines on notice boards, as well as through instructions mentioned on the ATM cards. It is also instructed through advertisements that a bank account holder must not here details about the account numbers, debit and credit cards, OTP number and personal information with anybody on phone because Bank authorities do not ask for such details. “Yet a teacher and a practicing advocate like the complainant parted with the information with a stranger and admitted to it”. The court held that this does not reflect any negligence on the deficiency in service on the part of  the bank.

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Conclusion : Hence in the present case in hand the consumer disputes redressal commission has held that the bank is not liable to compensate for the loss to the customer if despite repeated words of caution by the bank and it authorities the customer reveal their bank details or other information to the fraudsters and money is lost.

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This post is written by Karishma Jain.

For case specific advice/details contact TOP/BEST/EXPERT Civil/Criminal cheating fraud Lawyers in Chandigarh, Panchkula and Mohali Tri-City area.

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