Pune: The Additional District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has ordered that the amount involved in unauthorized transactions made through the credit card of a State Bank of India (SBI) employee not be recovered, and that the interest not be charged on the disputed amount.

The Forum also directed SBI Card and Payment Services Limited to remove the complainant’s account from the Non-Performing Asset (NPA) category and restore her CIBIL score.

The complainant, Rochana Naik, who works with SBI, filed a complaint after three fraudulent transactions totaling ₹15,000 were made on her credit card in Farrukhabad, Uttar Pradesh, while she had used the card the same day in Pune. Despite blocking the card immediately, SBI Card held Naik responsible for the transactions, leading her to seek redress.

The verdict was delivered by Forum Member Pranali Sawant. In this matter, Rochana Naik had filed a complaint against SBI Card and Payment Services Limited.

The complainant, an employee of the State Bank of India (SBI), held an SBI credit card and had used it to make purchases at a shopping mall in Baner in February 2020.

On the same day, at 7 PM, three transactions of ₹5,000 each were made on the complainant's credit card in Farrukhabad, Uttar Pradesh. Following this, she blocked the credit card.

Subsequently, SBI sent an email to the complainant stating that upon investigation, it was found that all transactions were made using the CVV and OTP.

However, as the complainant herself was a bank employee, it was unlikely that she would have disclosed her CVV and OTP to anyone. Additionally, Naik argued that holding her accountable for transactions made in Uttar Pradesh while she had used the card in Pune was unjust.

Therefore, she filed a complaint with the Forum, stating that while it was her responsibility to keep her credit card and related information secure, she had not failed in this duty.

SBI Card, on the other hand, argued that the complainant might have created a clone of her credit card to fraudulently extract money from SBI.

In response to the collection actions initiated against her, the complainant questioned whether SBI Card had checked the footage from the ATM machine's camera. However, SBI did not provide a satisfactory answer and did not show the footage to the complainant.

Despite the complaint being filed within the stipulated time, SBI Card held her responsible for the unauthorized transactions and began recovery proceedings, which led the complainant to request that SBI Card be directed not to recover the amount from her.

Restoration of CIBIL Score

The Forum ordered that SBI Card must take necessary actions to restore the complainant’s CIBIL score to its original state. Additionally, SBI Card was directed to pay ₹15,000 as compensation for physical and mental distress and ₹10,000 for the cost of the complaint.

If the verdict is not implemented within 45 days, SBI Card will be liable to pay interest at the rate of 9% on the compensation and complaint costs.