Here's my story on how I got duped even without my knowledge. It can happen to you as well.
I was travelling by train from Mumbai to Kolkata with my family. I get a call from my bank asking for authentication for withdrawal of ₹40,000. It's an unusual behaviour detected by the bank since I never withdraw money from ATM using my credit card. NEVER! I denied the authorisation and my card was blocked immediately. I noticed after the call, that I had received messages on my cell from my bank, saying ₹10,000 has been withdrawn using my credit card from Jogeshwari ATM. I had just crossed Kalyan at that time. Back to back, I got two more messages saying the withdrawal of ₹10,000 using the same credit card. I got panicked, I immediately checked my wallet fearing that I have lost my credit card to someone who knows the pin. But to my astonishment, I still had my credit card intact.
I was surprised, helpless and scared at the same time. Hadn't I received that call, I had not realised what was happening, must have lost a huge amount that day. Still, I lost ₹30,000 on my credit card. I received another call from my bank if it was me doing the transaction. I said I am travelling and I have the card with me right now and I am nowhere near the ATM from where the transaction happened.
I was asked to do an immediate transaction of ₹100 from wherever the place I am so that they can verify and return back my money immediately. It was my bad luck, it was a Friday night, I was travelling and had no chance of finding an ATM and withdraw 100 bucks to verify to the bank and no sooner than Monday(3 days) to approach the bank. I was on my own again!
Why did this happen?
Let's see what went wrong, It is a great example of "Card skimming". How did it happen? So, to do a skim or clone a card, you need a machine that reads the data of the debit/credit card via a simple swipe. This kind of scams is popular in ATMs fitted with external readers and pinhole cameras to read your PIN. But in my case, how did it happen?
So like any urban dweller, visiting malls and restaurants, I always handed out my credit card for payment. It was all good till I did this in branded stores, you can trust them at least. I suspect this issue started when I started paying out at local restaurants. I won't shell out the name as I only suspect and I don't have any proof against them. Now let me tell you a classic method of card skimming which you would never ever suspect!
They will take your card, swipe it against a machine and they enter the amount and ask you to insert the pin. The transaction fails! Nothing to suspect right? He didn't retry on that machine, rather brought another machine saying It has been failing for many throughout the day! On the second machine, you swipe and you type in your PIN, Voila! Payment is done! And the happy customer walks out of the shop without realising, you have been scammed! How? the first one was the skimming machine.
It really makes it hard for me to trust any machine nowadays. You will find plenty of resources on how to identify fake keypad, card slots in ATM, but it's almost impossible to tell if you have swiped your card through the genuine machine.
Had I lost my money due to my ignorance?
It was not my ignorance, neither my fault. Just a bit of luck that it was my credit card and my money is insured if I am duped without my knowledge. Read here what I am talking about! If your money is stuck in the same way as I was, you can get your money back! Banks will have to pay you back(Zero Liability of Customer) in the following situations, as regulated by RBI:
Disputed transactions(online transactions) required no OTP or CVV, have not participated or authorised the transactions and the card was in your possession all the time.
Disputed transactions(offline transactions) are made via cards when you hold the possession of your cards at all times.
The transactions happened due to a glitch in the banking system.
The transactions happened due to a glitch in the third party using the banking system.
You can't claim back your entire money from bank or banks cannot guarantee your money(Limited Liability of a Customer), in the following cases:
You have provided CVV or OTP over a means of communication.
You lost your card but didn't inform the bank and blocked your card before the transactions.
You have handed over the card to someone and they shared the details with someone.
Steps to claim back your money when Banks are obliged to return your insured money.
Send out a mail with a descriptive letter to Card disputes department of your bank along with a card dispute form within three working days from the notification of fraudulent transactions.
Card dispute form will have the transaction details of the disputed transactions, will be analysed by the card dispute department.
Card dispute department will reach out to you for a copy of the FIR lodged in your local police station and the image of your debit/credit card cut into half where the card number is visible. It may also ask for relevant proofs to establish it wasn't your fault.
Within 10 working days, should get back your money into a respective account (shadow credit) and the bank deals with the rest of the case.
If no amount is credited from your bank in 10 days, you can approach RBI for the same on complaints.
Few highlights of what RBI says in this matter:
The burden of proving customer liability in case of unauthorised electronic banking transactions shall lie on the bank.
In cases where the loss is due to negligence by a customer, such as where he has shared the payment credentials, the customer will bear the entire loss until he reports the unauthorised transaction to the bank. Any loss occurring after the reporting of the unauthorised transaction shall be borne by the bank.
In cases where the responsibility for the unauthorised electronic banking transaction lies neither with the bank nor with the customer, but lies elsewhere in the system and when there is a delay (of four to seven working days after receiving the communication from the bank) on the part of the customer in notifying the bank of such a transaction, the per transaction liability of the customer shall be limited to the transaction value or the amount mentioned in:
Liability summary in case the issue/complaint is resolved(who is liable/responsible) within 90 days:
Conclusion
Yes, I got my money back! Sut samet wapas liye hai.. I still don't know if those guys were caught but surely bank got its money back too through an insurance claim.
Comentários