Fraudulent transactions, money siphoned off from account, senior citizens writes to SBI

May 31: Repeated incidents of siphoning out of money from the bank accounts of retired employees and other senior citizens mostly from the accounts of State Bank of India (SBI) has created panic among the elders. Term deposits/ fixed deposit accounts are being robbed off by way of electronic money transfer. These incidents are taking place mostly in case of SBI consumers. In a letter addressed to the Chief Manager of SBI, New Silchar Branch, this was alleged by the Proactive Senior Citizens Forum, Silchar on Monday.

The letter by the Senior Citizens Forum assumes significance in the backdrop of a similar incident which happened with a senior citizen who is also a retired employee of SBI, Silchar. Lakhs of rupees were siphoned off his account by cyber frauds. Initially, Rs. 3,14,000 was transferred from the account of 65-year-old retired SBI employee Debashish Aditya. Later on, it was discovered that the online miscreants accessing the online banking system of the victim created 3 overdraft accounts and fraudulently took loan for a huge amount of almost 16 lakh against his fixed deposits. A police complaint was immediately lodged on 26 May. The matter was also brought to the notice of the SBI authorities in Silchar and the police and district administration. Since then, 4 days have elapsed, but till now the case has not been cracked.

General Secretary of the Proactive Senior Citizens Forum, Silchar, Prof. Dilip Kumar Dey in his letter to the Chief Manager of SBI New Silchar Branch urged upon to intensify the vigil, take help of internet experts & cyber crime cell of the police, both at local and national level to nab the criminals. He wrote, “SBI should unearth the illegally transferred money and protect the interests of all the account holders without delay.”

Live Law in one of the news items on 9 January, 2021 published an important news under the heading, “Bank Liable For Fraudulent Online Transaction If Account Holder’s Fault Not Proved : NCDRC.” In that particular news, Live Law stated, “The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) recently held that in case of fraudulent transactions leading to withdraw of money from a person’s bank account, the concerned bank shall be responsible for the loss, not the customer, if it is not proven that the fraudulent transaction had taken place not due to account holder’s fault.”