The District Consumer Redressal Forum, North Chennai, has directed ICICI Bank to compensate a cyber fraud victim for ₹2 lakh for failing to freeze a fraudulent account and sanctioning an unauthorised loan.
Complainant D. Madumitha of Ayanavaram alleged that on July 21, 2023, fraudsters posing as FedEx staff and Mumbai police threatened her with false drug charges and withdrew ₹19,91,687 from her ICICI account. She immediately reported the fraud via the 1930 cybercrime helpline and requested the bank to freeze both her and the transferee’s accounts. While her account was frozen the same day, the bank allegedly refused to freeze the fraudsters’ account.
ICICI Bank contended that unauthorised transactions are a matter for criminal investigation and denied any liability in the case. However, the consumer forum, led by D. Gopinath, ruled that the complainant fell under RBI’s ‘Zero Liability’ guidelines since she promptly reported the fraud.
Published – February 09, 2025 01:05 am IST
