Do not ignore!
This scenario is enough to rattle anyone: An SMS in the middle of the night informing that a transaction has been made on your credit card in a city 1000s of miles away and even while the card is in your possession.
With the increase in the digital way of life, especially when it comes to financial transactions, the risk of financial frauds cannot be ignored. A fraudulent online transaction in one's bank account, debit or credit card could be because of e-mail / message / mobile application spoofing, phishing or it could have been an act committed by cloning one's card.
What to do in case of fraud
The moment you come to know that a suspicious transaction has been done on your credit/debit card, inform the card issuer immediately. One should lodge a formal complaint with the bank and ideally call up the customer care number to block the card or the account immediately.
How to file a complaint
If you a fraud related to net banking, ATM transactions, or any other online transaction happens, you have to raise a complaint. But, before filing a written complaint with the bank or the card issuer, make sure you have at least these following documents with you:
* Bank statement of the last six months of the concerned bank
* Make a copy of SMSs received related to the alleged transactions
* Take copy of your ID proof and address proof as shown in the bank records
* Lodge a complaint in your nearest police station explaining the complete incidence along with the above documents.
There are several fake apps being floating around in the cyber world. In case of any financial fraud committed through an app, in addition to the above mentioned documents, also furnish the screenshot of the malicious app and the location from where it was downloaded.
Where to file the complaint
Once the card issuer or the bank has been informed about the fraudulent transaction, one should file a written compliant with the nearest police station. "An FIR has to be filed in the local police station only. In case police refuses to file an FIR, the court can be approached under section 156(3) of the Cr PC," says advocate Puneet Bhasin, a cyber law expert.
But, what if the police asks you to go to the Cyber Cell to file the complaint? "You do not need to approach the cyber cell. You can file an FIR in the local police station itself. The cases are forwarded by the police stations to the Cyber Cell," informs Bhasin.
In case you wish to lodge a complaint directly with the cyber cell, even after having lodged a complaint with the police, you may do so. The contact details of such district cyber cell specific to your place of residence can be found on the Internet. The online complaint lodging system for economic and cyber offences of a few cities are as below:
Liability in case of fraudulent transaction
Now, if the fraud happens and the bank is not at fault and it was committed by a third-party through an act of scamming, phishing etc, the RBI rules says that the customer is not required to pay if the breach has been reported within three days of the fraudulent transaction. A transaction reported after that but within seven days, the per transaction liability of the customer will be limited to the transaction value or an amount set by the central bank, whichever is lower.
And, if you take more than seven days, "the customer liability shall be determined as per the bank's Board approved policy," says the RBI notification. The RBI has proposed to extend the safety net to unauthorised electronic transactions involving prepaid payment Instruments (PPIs) such as digital wallets Mobikwik, Oxigen and Amazon Pay as well.
What you should do
Having informed the bank, as per the RBI rules, the resolution has to be over within 90 days. Banks have to credit or reverse the unauthorised electronic transaction to the customer's account within 10 working days from the date of notification by the customer. Credit card frauds are known to be more common in case of their usage abroad.
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