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The consumer commission has quashed the complaint of a man who lost nearly Rs 2 lakh after an unauthorised transaction, accusing the bank of deficiency of service.
The commission held him “solely responsible” for the loss and denied any compensation from the bank.
Prodosh Kumar Banerjee, a resident of CV Raman Nagar, lost Rs 1,99,000 from his account in the State Bank of India on July 19, 2022. This occurred after he allegedly clicked an SMS link from an unknown phone number that urged him to pay his electricity bill to prevent the loss of his power connection.
Within the next three hours, Banerjee sent an email to the bank and sent two letters in a week’s time. The bank reportedly assured him of a resolution in 21 days, but failed to act on it. Banerjee also filed an FIR with the cybercrime police three days after the incident, but the case is still pending.
Upset with the lack of action, he submitted a legal notice to the bank on December 28, 2022, alleging that the bank intentionally neglected his grievance despite multiple attempts to avail compensation. He did not receive a response until this February.
In March this year, Banerjee filed a complaint with the Bengaluru Urban 2nd Additional District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Shanthinagar, alleging a deficiency of service on the bank’s part, and demanded a refund of the lost amount, Rs 1 lakh as compensation, and additional litigation expenses from the bank.
The bank’s representative argued that the complainant had voluntarily clicked an unauthorised link and shared confidential information about his account credentials, which is a result of his negligence and not the bank’s fault.
The commission dismissed the case on August 14, concluding that the complainant was “solely responsible” for the transaction and was a victim of fraud, for which the bank could not be blamed.