How Banks Cheat in Limited Liability instances

At one time, Bankers were considered trusted individuals and respected in the community. But with the advent of technology, Bankers of the older generation receded into the background and technologists came into the Banking profession. Today Technologists have become Bankers and Traditional Bankers who still remain have become slaves of technology aware persons within the Bank.

The new generation Bankers are short on integrity and follow the Kaliyuga principle of “Self Benefit” and “Self Preservation” at the cost of anything. This generation would not hesitate to destroy their neighbor if it helps them.

I as an ex-Banker is making this statement after observing the behaviour of some of the Bankers in the current banking scenario.

People are aware how ICICI Bank in the case of S.Umashankar who lost money through phishing, went about sharing the fraud  proceeds with the fraudster, tried to shield the fraudster by erasing evidence, by refusing to file Police complaint etc. There are several instances where insiders in Banks have themselves committed offences and otherwise assisted outsiders in committing frauds against innocent customers and then dragged the cases in Courts for years using the money power.

Fortunately, both the RBI and the TDSAT along with some of the cyber savvy adjudicators under ITA 2000 (It Secretaries) have come to the assistance of the innocent Cyber Fraud  victims in Banks and held the Banks liable to pay the fraud amount back to the victims. They have recognized that dilution of security through negligence or otherwise is an assistance for the commission of the fraud and hence the liability should be borne by them.

The “Limited Liability System” introduced by the RBI was one of the greatest steps in this regard and accordingly, in any case of fraud involving internet banking or credit cards or debit cards, where the fraud has been committed by an outsider, the Customer would have Zero liability if he disputes the transaction when he receives the SMS alert. In such instances, the Bank has to restore the account by providing value dated credit to the customer without any delay.

In order to avoid this liability, Banks have started to play games which are exposing the malicious nature of current day Bankers in India.

Yesterday, I came across an incident involving HDFC Bank in which a credit card customer has found that during the period when his old credit card is being replaced with the new credit card, the old credit card has been swiped in a foreign location for over Rs 1.26 lakhs. The customer when he received the call from the Bank to verify the transaction, has stated that he has not carried out the transaction. However, next day, Bank has sent him an SMS that they were not able to reach him when they tried to inform him about the transaction.

If the Customer thinks that he has already replied and does not take further action to continue disputing the transaction, perhaps the Bank would later on say that he did not respond within 3 days or 7 days and try to hold him liable.

It therefore appears that the Bank is trying to create an evidence that it has tried to contact the customer and he was not available. This is a fraudulent action of the bank which should result in criminal action against the persons responsible.

In another incident, ICICI Bank has called a customer about a new card and the card fees. After the customer has indicated that he has no intention of using the card because it is not a free card as was marketed, he has still been billed and is being threatened with adverse effect on CIBIL rating. At the same time, the Bank has recorded a wrong e-mail address of the customer and keeps sending mobile SMS which cannot be replied back.

In both these incidents, Bankers of the current generation have come out as unreliable and fraudulent. The possibility of insider involvement in these instances are high.

I hope both HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank wake up and remember that they exist because of the customers and they need to respect genuine customers and not take any stand that will favour the fraudsters instead of the genuine customers.

Naavi