Kerala High Court directs SBI to refund ₹3.73 lakh to victim of cyberfraud

The Kerala High Court recently directed the State Bank of India (SBI) to refund ₹3.73 lakh to a victim of cyberfraud. The court observed that she was entitled to the refund as she reported the fraudulent transaction to the bank and the police within the prescribed time.

Justice Harisankar V. Menon noted that the bank did not take any steps to recredit the amount siphoned from her account, even though she registered a complaint immediately after the incident. Even after the police identified the fraudster, the bank did not take any further action, the court observed. 

‘Blocking of debit card’

The petitioner said that on the morning of July 13, 2019, she received a text message stating that her debit card was proposed to be blocked and that she could reactivate it online. She had earlier been notified that non-chip based debit cards were to be blocked by SBI. Later, she received a call from the same phone number informing her that the debit card was blocked. She was then directed to provide details like the One Time Password for registration of the “State Bank Secure App”. 

Right after the OTP was shared, ₹3.73 lakh was debited from her account. She immediately called the SBI’s customer care service, and blocked her bank account. Subsequently, she also complained with the branch manager and the Mattannur police. 

Complaint rejected

Subsequently, the police found that Sandip Bauri of West Bengal had stolen the petitioner’s money. The petitioner approached the banking ombudsman seeking a refund of the money, but her complaint was rejected. The ombudsman argued that the petitioner was privy to the entire transaction and hence was not entitled to the refund. The petitioner contended that she thought she was giving the OTP for registering on the app and that there would be a separate OTP for debiting money.

The court found that it was clear from the police reports that the petitioner was not privy to the fraud, and directed SBI to remit the siphoned amount to her account.