
A woman from Haridwar experienced a loss of Rs 75,000 during an attempt to withdraw funds from her account via a fraudulent ATM transaction in Ghaziabad. Rather than addressing the issue promptly, the bank purportedly suggested that the individual had made the withdrawal themselves and was now trying to falsely claim it as fraudulent.
Faced with the bank's uncooperative stance and the lack of progress in their investigation, the affected party first filed a complaint with the banking ombudsman. Subsequently, they escalated the matter to a district consumer forum, which eventually led to the case being referred to the Uttarakhand Consumer Commission, a report in the Economic Times stated.
The investigation and Consumer forum's stand
According to the directive from the Uttarakhand State Consumer Commission issued on October 22, 2024, the investigation revealed the following findings:
> The Haridwar-based complainant had Rs 77,214 in her Punjab National Bank savings account, of which Rs 75,000 was withdrawn from an ATM in Ghaziabad between August 21, 2018, and August 26, 2018.
> The complainant claimed that she did not receive any SMS alerts from PNB regarding these unauthorized transactions.
> Upon discovering the transactions, the complainant contacted PNB's customer care and filed a FIR at Haridwar's Ranipur police station.
> PNB's internal investigation revealed that the complainant's card was not cloned, casting doubt on the validity of the transactions.
> State Police investigation determined that the transactions occurred as a result of card cloning.
> PNB did not take significant action within three days of being notified about the fraudulent transactions.
The Uttarakhand State Consumer Commission noted: “The appellant Bank has also not filed any concrete and reliable evidence on the fact that such fraudulent withdrawals were made by such an ATM card number which was already issued to the respondent - complainant and there was no case of card cloning.”
What PNB said
The legal team of PNB presented their case to the Uttarakhand State Consumer Commission, highlighting that the bank conducted an internal investigation and provided its findings to the Banking Ombudsman in an email dated May 8, 2019. PNB's lawyers also stressed the fact that an ATM card can only be utilized by the cardholder who physically possesses the card and enters the correct ATM PIN.
“…The responsibility to preserve the ATM pin lies solely on the account holder. There is no deficiency in service…., hence the appeal deserves to be allowed and the impugned judgement and order is liable to be set aside,” said PNB’s lawyers before the Uttarakhand State Commission.
PNB's written statement
PNB informed the Uttarakhand State Consumer Commission through a written statement that a letter was dispatched to communicate the results of the bank's investigation into the alleged fraudulent transactions.
The State Commission ruled against PNB's defence, finding the bank culpable. Their decision was informed by the affidavit provided by the complainant, wherein she affirmed that she had not disclosed any sensitive information, such as her ATM card's CVV or other personal details, to anyone in order to enable the illegal transactions in question.
PNB asked pay compensation
As per the order from the Uttarakhand State Consumer Commission, PNB has been directed to pay compensation in the following manner:
A payment of Rs 75,000, with simple interest calculated at a rate of 6%.
The interest will accrue from the date of the complaint being filed on 05.07.2019 until the final payment, along with an additional Rs 5,000 towards litigation costs.
As per the report, if PNB chooses to comply with the order, the total amount due would be Rs 99,000, calculated as Rs 75,000 plus the interest accrued over 5 years and 4 months (Rs 24,000). An email inquiry sent to PNB on November 7, 2024 has not received any response as of the time of publication.