Fraudulent transaction in your bank account? You must do this immediately to limit your loss

New Delhi: As more people have limited their exposure from face-to-face or physical transaction to online transaction during the COVID-19 pandemic, the risk of being targeted by online fraudsters has also risen.

The cyber criminals have become very active to exploit the vulnerability of customers in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

For the awareness of customers, the Reserve Bank of India has said that the customers must immediately notify their bank to limit their loss if they witness fraudulent transaction in their bank account.

If someone has fraudulently withdrawn money from your bank account, inform your bank immediately. When you notify the bank, remember to take acknowledgement from your bank. The bank has to resolve your complaint within 90 days from the date of receipt, the RBI says.

Customers should however remember that if the transaction has happened because of their negligence, that is, because of sharing your password, PIN, OTP , etc., they will have to bear the loss till they report it to bank.

If the fraudulent transactions continue even after you have informed the bank, your bank will have to reimburse those amounts. If you delay the reporting, your loss will increase and it will be decided based on the RBI guidelines and the policy approved by your bank’s board, RBI added.

The RBI had in its 2017 circular said that Banks must ask their customers to mandatorily register for SMS alerts and register for email alerts, for electronic banking transactions wherever available.

RBI said that banks must mandatorily sent the SMS alerts to the customers and email alerts wherever registered.

Banks must also advise the customers to notify their bank of any unauthorised electronic banking transaction at the earliest after the occurrence of such transaction, and informed that the longer the time taken to notify the bank, the higher will be the risk of loss to the bank or customer.