Adv. For the Complainant: -  Sadhu Charan Sahu  &  Bhabani Shankar Bhoi

        Adv. For the O.P.            :-   Asit kumar Sarangi

        Date  of filing of the Case  :- 19.04.2021

        Date of Order                       :-22.11.2023

 JUDGMENT

Smt. Jyotsna Rani Mishra , Member

Brief Facts of the case:-

                   The  complainant having  an account at State Bank of India , Main Branch , Bolangir and A/C number is A/C : 30710211150. On 10/06/2020 complainant received a mobile call from a mobile number (8391881641) informed that his Sim card needs to be activated and ask to resend a particular SMS which was sent by him to the complainant mobile to a particular mobile number and as per the instruction of caller complainant sent the SMS to that mobile no but did not share any further details retails regarding his passwords, Bank account numbers etc. with the caller.

        On 12.06.2020 suddenly it appeared Rs.78000(Seventy  eight thousand) was debited from the complainant’s SBI A/C through a series of 4(transactions), first by three transactions of Rs.25000/- each. Followed by a transaction of Rs.3000/-. All the four transactions were carried

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out by the fraudster /Hacker / caller  through the “ Unified Payments  Interface machanison’s  gateway. Complainant informed to the Bank to block the account in same day. He also made a FIR  in police station , Bolangir.

        The Bank authorities after receiving the complaint, assured the complainant that they will look in to the matter and will make every possible endeavour to bring his lost  money back in to his account.

               No action was taken by the Bank authorise towards retrieving the cost money of the complainant. The complainant again and again approached the bank authorities but bank authorities `gave false assurance towards retrieving the complainant’s money since the fraudulent transactions happened from the bank account of complainant at the SBI , Main Branch Bolangir, and since the SBI has its branch office at Bolangir complainant demanded for compensation in money.  

Complainant relies on following  document-

1. Account statement of the Complainant showing 3 (three) successive transactions of Rs.25000/-(rupees twenty five thousand) each and  One transaction of Rs.3000/-(Rupees Three Thousand) through the UPI gateway.
2. Server generated message from the SBI ( State bank of India), Main Branch , Balangir sent to the complainant’s mobile regarding the complainant’s account being put on hold from Dated:12/06/2020.
3. Printout of the screenshot showing 8 missed call being made by the caller/fraudster to the mobile of the complainant on Dated:10/06/2020 and others relevant documents.
4. Certified photocopy of final form on GR 787 of 2020 of the court of SDJM at Balangir.

1. Having gone through the complainant its accompanied documents and hearing the complainant prima facie it seemed to be genuine case hence admitted and notice to the OP was served and in response OP appear through their advocate and filed its written version.

       To counter the charge in rival contention OP filed their written statement admitting that complainant has himself admitted in his complainant that the four transactions are done by the fraudster/Hacker/caller through the Unified Payment Interface mechanism (UPI Payment). This there is no role the Op in involved in this case.

2.  SBI personnel have acknowledge the complainant and advice the complainant to report the matter before the cyber crime police station for proper investigation in to the
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matter as there is no wrong done at the end of the Op. The Op has taken steps and found that, the money of complainant has been withdrawn on proper way by giving the PIN/Password. The transaction is successful.

3. . In this case complainant has himself stated that he has shared the sms and disclosed information to the fraudulent caller on dt.10.06.2020 by sharing to the mobile no.9223011112. in this circumstances , the contention of the complainant that his ATM card was fraudulently used by fraudster or  hacker not by Op. No doubt there are cases of fraudulent withdrawal. These withdrawals occured either because the ATM card or the PIN number fell in wrong hands. So Op also stated that complainant negligent in sharing his sms with unknown caller. Leading to the fraudulent transaction.

1. As a concern customer  complainant should be well know about how to maintain his bank account. Because Op has provided high securities of its customer for all the transaction through a wariness.  And also, here  question arises how did complainant know about dubitation of money from  his account without getting message from the Op .and complainant informed the bank authorities regarding the same and his A/C was blocked  by the Op. from this it is concluded that suppression of material fact was done by the complainant.
2. However , I find that complainant acted reasonably and was not negligent in responding to the caller’s instructions, especially since be did not disclose any confidential information.

The Bank has a duty of care to protect its customer’s accounts and funds. The bank’s failure to take any action upon receiving the complainant complaint about unauthorized transactions constitutes a breach of this duty of care.

Bank provides access to its bank accounts through the Unified payments Interface mechanism. This mechanism works as a gate way through which other financial accesses top the Bank accounts of the customers of State Bank of India and various public sector banks including the SBI that the UPI mechanism is a safe and secure platform for traction of money in a secure encrypted format from customer’s bank accounts, which are free from any kind backing attempts. And the SBI being a service provider for banking to the general public and it being an institution having very high reliability and value in the conscienceof general public , it is the duty and the obligation of SBI to install proper security mechanisms for proper and secure money transaction and towards of online frauds.

When in a series of 4 (four) transaction Rs.78,000/- was debited from the complainant’s SBI account . All the transactions were successful and there is no false transaction done in the A/c of complainant which is show in the statement of account. So it must be duty of Op to provided debited message to complainant mobile which is not represented by OP. so this material fact was suppressed by the Op. According to final form report of cyber crime in GR 787 of 2020 of the court of SDJM at Bolangir, there is no any clue of this fraud case, it means cyber crime police also give a clean cheat of this case.

Therefore , I finds that Bank (OP) is liable for the fraudulent transaction’s on the complainant account.Hence Order.

                                                                         ORDER

I directed Op to reimburse the complainant Rs.78,000/- which was debited from the complainant SBI Account.

OP is directed to comply with this order within 30 days from the dt. of this Judgement. If Op fail to comply, the complainant will be entitledto 12% interest on the outstanding amount from the dt. Of judgement until the dt. Of payment.

No award as to cost.

PRONOUNCED IN THE OPEN COMMISSION TO-DAY  11^th  day of  November‘ 2023.