In 4 years, banks fined you more than what Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi owe them

Banks in India have earned at least Rs 10,391.43 crore by charging you for just two things--failure to maintain minimum balance in saving accounts and carrying out more than the permitted number of free ATM transactions in a month.

Of course, you have heard the name Vijay Mallya. The liquor baron who once had a majority stake in United Beverages, the face of Kingfisher Airline and Royal Challengers Bangalore, and a host of other things? Aaah! You remember. Good.

Vijay Mallya owes approximately Rs 9,000 crore to various Indian banks. He defrauded them over years and now is in the United Kingdom. India says it wants him to be deported and efforts are on.

Another name that you must have heard of is Nirav Modi. The diamond businessman who defrauded Indian banks to the tune of more than Rs 11,300 crore?

But this is not an article about India’s fugitive billionaires. Forget them for a while. This article is about you and your money.

In less than four years (April 2015 to September 2018), banks in India have earned at least Rs 10,391.43 crore by charging you for just two things--failure to maintain minimum balance in saving accounts and carrying out more than the permitted number of free ATM transactions in a month.

This amount is more than what Vijay Mallya owes, and is 92 per cent of the amount owed by Nirav Modi. Hold on and take a breath because this amount is just the one collected by public sector banks. It doesn't include the earnings made by private banks by collecting fines.

(Penalty for non-maintenance of minimum balance is much higher in private banks as compared to public-sector banks. For example, between 2015-16 and 2017-18, India’s three private banks Axis Bank, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank earned Rs 4,054.77 crore by fining their customers for not maintaining minimum balance in their savings account. More on this later.)

Banks have been defending themselves by arguing that they are providing services to people and like any other service provider, they too have a right to charge for services rendered by them. (Photo: Reuters)

In less than four years (April 2015 to September 2018), banks in India have earned at least Rs 10,391.43 crore by charging you for just two things--failure to maintain minimum balance in saving accounts and carrying out more than the permitted number of free ATM transactions in a month.
This information was shared by the Union finance ministry in the Lok Sabha on December 21 in response to a written question submitted by Dibyendu Adhikari, a Trinamool Congress MP.

But why should we compare money owed by frauds with the money that banks have earned legally? Correct. We shouldn't and we aren't. This is just to give you an idea of the enormity of the amount that banks earn by charging customers for just two of their many services.

To better appreciate the size of this amount, let’s take a different example. The amount earned by banks by collecting these two fines is more than the Rs 10,000 crore that the central government approved on Friday (December 28) for India's first man mission to space--Gaganyaan.

Reading the big numbers
Okay. So since now you know that we are talking about big (actually very big) numbers, let’s discuss them in detail.

The central government was asked whether public sector banks levy any charges/fines on saving accounts that do not maintain minimum balance or/and exceed the number of free ATM transactions allowed by banks in a month.

ATM transactions include both financial (withdrawal and transfer) and non-financial (mini statement, pin change, balance inquiry etc).
In its reply, the finance ministry provided data of how much each public sector bank has earned since April 2015 till September 2018 by collecting fines for these two defaults.

Calculating the earnings made by each bank, we find that public sector banks have earned Rs 6,246.44 crore by just charging customers for their failure to maintain minimum balance in their savings account.

Meanwhile, the amount collected as fine for making extra ATM transactions in this period was Rs 4,144.99 crore.

FINE COLLECTED BY TOP 5 PUBLIC BANKS
Bank Amount
State Bank of India Rs 4,447.75 crore
Punjab National Bank Rs 815.94 crore
Central Bank of India Rs 551.49 crore
Bank of Baroda Rs 510.34 crore
Canara Bank Rs 503.35 crore
Source: Lok Sabha

The Punjab and Sindh Bank is the only public sector bank that does not levy any fine for non-maintenance of minimum balance in savings accounts.

The State Bank of India (SBI), which has the largest network in the country and is India’s biggest lender, earned the most (Rs 4,447.75 crore i.e. 43 per cent of the total amount earned by all public banks) by levying fines on these two aspects, the government’s reply revealed.

When it comes to private banks, another reply in the Lok Sabha revealed that between April 2015 and March 2018, three private banks--Axis Bank, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank--earned Rs 4,054.77 crore by fining customers for non-maintenance of minimum balance.

(We did not include the earnings made by private banks in our overall figure because data of fine collected by them for non-maintenance of minimum balance in the current financial year (up till September) was not available, unlike data for public banks. Besides, the Lok Sabha reply did not include the earnings these banks made by fining customers for extra ATM transactions in past four years.)

The State Bank of India (SBI), which has the largest network in the country and is India’s biggest lender, earned the most (Rs 4,447.75 crore i.e. 43 per cent of the total amount earned by all public banks) by levying fines on these two aspects
However, an analysis of the two replies of the government in the Lok Sabha shows that the earnings made by the three private banks by fining customers for non-maintenance of minimum balance is more than the collective earnings of 20 public sector banks (excluding SBI).

For instance, between April 2015 and March 2018, the three private banks earned Rs 4,054.77 crore by collecting fines for non-maintenance of minimum balance.

In the same period, public sector banks (excluding SBI) earned Rs 2,823.42 crore. For SBI, the earning was Rs 2,433.87 crore in this period.

Private banks' earnings from fine for non-maintenance of min balance
Bank Amount
Axis Bank Rs 1,300.44 crore
HDFC Bank Rs 1,757.90 crore
ICICI Bank Rs 996.43 crore
Total Rs 4054.77 crore
Source: Lok Sabha

What are RBI’s guidelines
This is not the first time that banks have been criticised for levying fines on customers for failure to maintain minimum balance or for making extra ATM transactions.

Banks have defended themselves by arguing that they are providing services to people and like any other service provider, they too have a right to charge for services rendered by them.

Speaking to news agency Press Trust of India (PTI) on December 21, 2018 SBI’s Managing Director PK Gupta justified the charges levied by banks. He said banks have invested heavily in technological upgradation of system and that this upgradation provides safe and secure banking facilities in the country.

"With substantial investment in infrastructure and technology, it becomes imperative for the bank to recover at least a part of the cost," he was quoted as saying.

As an advice for customers, he said the bank requests them to use digital channels as much as possible "since ATM operations are becoming costlier day-by-day".

The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) circulars/guidelines empower banks to self-determine the minimum balance that savings account should maintain and how much fine should be collected for non-maintenance.

With substantial investment in infrastructure and technology, it becomes imperative for the bank to recover at least a part of the cost
- PK Gupta, Managing Director, SBI

In regard to ATM transactions, the RBI guidelines say banks should allow their customers to carry out five free transactions from ATMs of home banks every month. For six metropolitan cities--New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Bengaluru--the RBI has allowed three free transactions from ATMs of other banks, in addition to the five transactions from ATMs of home bank, every month.

ATM transactions include both financial (withdrawal and transfer) and non-financial (mini statement, pin change, balance inquiry etc).

The RBI has exempted basic saving bank deposits (BSBD) accounts and accounts opened under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) from the minimum balance clause. However, these accounts can be fined for extra ATM transactions.

(BSBD accounts and PMJDY accounts are saving accounts that have a cap on the amount that can be transacted from them. They are aimed at providing banking services to low-income groups.)

As already mentioned, the RBI has left it to the banks to decide what will be the minimum balance that a normal savings account should maintain, and also what should be the fine for non-maintenance.

RBI’s guidelines, as per the government’s reply in Parliament, only say that the fine should be "reasonable" and "not out of line with the average cost of providing these services".

For ATM transactions, the RBI leaves it to the banks to decide how much they want to charge for every extra transaction, with the condition that this fine can’t be more than Rs 20 per transaction.

Charges levied by some banks
Bank: Minimum Balance Required- Fine for minimum balance- Fine for extra ATM transactions
SBI Rs 1,000-Rs 3,000 Rs 5-Rs 15 Rs 20
BoB Rs 500-Rs 1,000 Rs 100-Rs 200  Rs 20 (for financial) Rs 10 (for non-financial)
HDFC Rs 2,500-Rs 10,000 Rs 150-Rs 600 Rs 20 (for financial) Rs 8.50 (for non financial)
ICICI Rs 1,000-Rs 10,000 Gramin accounts: 5% of shortfall of min balance
Other accounts: Rs 100+5% of shortfall of min balance Rs 20 (for financial) Rs 8.50 (for non financial)

How rational is the fine collected by banks
Fines for non-maintenance of minimum amount and extra ATM transactions are just two of the many types of charges that banks levy on customers. Other charges include annual ATM maintenance fee, fee for RTGS, fee for NTFS, free SMS alert, internet banking fee, among others.

Here too, there is no fixed rate for these charges, and they vary from one bank to another.

With a majority of public sector banks running in loss due to piles of non-performing assets (NPA) accumulated over years, are banks trying to find a way out to at least meet their operational costs by charging ordinary customers?

As per another written reply of the central government in the Lok Sabha, the non-performing assets of all public sector banks was worth Rs 9,62,621 crore as on March 31, 2018.

Between March 31, 2014 and March 31, 2018, the non-performing assets of public sector banks saw an increase of 74 per cent from Rs 2,51,054 crore to Rs 9,62,621 crore.

Infographics: Mukesh Rawat/IndiaToday

So, instead of getting their acts in place to find ways to reduce their NPA and ensure that big corporate repay the loan taken by them, are banks fleecing money from ordinary people by charging them for things like non-maintenance of minimum balance and carrying our extra ATM transactions to withdraw their own hard-earned money?

Between March 31, 2014 and March 31, 2018, the non-performing assets of public-sector banks saw an increase of 74 per cent from Rs 2,51,054 crore to Rs 9,62,621 crore.

It’s not rocket science for banks to understand and empathise that the accounts that are not maintaining the minimum amount are not owned by millionaires, but by very ordinary people, many of whom would be positioned in the economy at a place where maintaining the minimum balance is a far cry.The banks are well within their rights to levy fines because the law provides it. But it remains an open-ended question as to how rational and justifiable these charges levied on common people are when juxtaposed to heaps of NPAs which the banks have miserably failed to address.

(Source: India Today)

Woman mortgages jewellery to ICICI bank, gets fake ornaments on loan repayment

Already in news for all the wrong reason, the ICICI bank has given one more shocker. The Saket Branch of ICICI bank tried to give artificial jewellery to one of its customer who had taken a loan of Rs 14 lakh against original jewellery of over Rs 40 lakh.

Mansi Singh, a resident of South Delhi has filed an FIR against ICICI bank with the Delhi Police in which she has alleged that the bank has stolen her original jewellery against which she took loan and after repayment of loan the bank handed over fake artificial jewellery.

"On March 3, I went to ICICI bank Saket branch to release my jewellery and deposited the complete loan amount with interest to the bank. Firstly bank tried to give me artificial and fake jewellery forcefully weighing approximately 660 gm (22 bangles and 9 chains) and the same jewellery was clearly denied by the bank's evaluator as well that he did not evaluate the jewellery and the jewellery is fake," reads the complaint letter by Mansi Singh, a copy which is available with India Today.

According to Mansi, while taking loan from the bank she handed over 21 bangles including two diamond-studded bangles having a value of approximately Rs 35-40 lakhs.

"The bank issued a sanction letter dated 28 February, 2017 in my name which contain 21 broad bangles and 16 chains have been against loan of Rs 14.07 lakh which was availed by me the tenure of 12 months," said Mansi Singh.

Upon the completion of tenure of loan, Mansi along with her sister on March 3, 2018 reached ICICI bank's Saket branch to close the loan and take back the jewellery.

"After completing all the formalities, the bank handed over a packet of articles. Upon checking the articles, I was surprised as the articles were not the same which were mortgaged by me, in fact the articles given to us were different in number as the sanction letter contained that 21 broad bangles and 16 chains whereas the bank of returned 22 bangles and 9 chains. I immediately pointed out the same and made a complaint to the bank officials however the bank official to convince us that it is the same packet of articles mortgaged by us. I refuse to accept the same immediately and informed Delhi police," said the complaint Mansi Singh.

A gold evaluative, present in the bank, after examining articles in the said packet declared the jewellery was indeed fake.

According to Mansi, bank asked for time to inquire. After no progress was made, she lodged an FIR with Delhi Police on May 2 against the bank. The bank has assured Mansi that they are looking into the case and said the jewellery might have been replaced.

(Source: India Today)

ICICI officials accused of tricking hundreds into buying insurance instead of FD schemes

Rajasthan’s state police special operations group is investigating multiple company officials for misleading customers and violating IRDAI norms.

The Rajasthan police’s special operations group (SOG) is investigating multiple ICICI bank and ICICI Prudential officials for allegedly duping hundreds of unsuspecting consumers into buying insurance policies whose premiums they could barely afford.

When Sohandas, a 75-year-old farmer from Udaipur, sold the only piece of land he owned, he hoped the money would help him and his 65-year-old wife with financial security during old age. After building a small house, he deposited the rest of his money (Rs 7,50,000) in a fixed deposit at ICICI bank’s Udaipur branch.

“Nine months later, I started receiving calls from Mumbai asking me to deposit another Rs 7,50,000, failing which I’d lose my original deposit. When I showed the bank documents to a lawyer, I was told it was an insurance policy, which required me to deposit the same amount every year”.

“I don’t know what to do now,” he said. “Both my wife and I are too old to find labour jobs. We have medical bills of Rs 5-7,000 every month. We don’t have 7.5 lakh rupees to deposit every year”.

Sohandas, however, is not alone. There are hundreds like him – a labourer who was relieved of the insurance money she received upon her husband’s death; a government employee whose gratuity melted away; a poor farmer whose agricultural loan was appropriated.

The victims include farmers, labourers and senior citizens from rural areas of southern Rajasthan, including beneficiaries of central government schemes like the Kisan Credit Card and MGNREGA, all of who were duped by officials from ICICI bank into buying insurance policies with huge recurring annual premiums, the police says.

Tulsiram And Pyaribai Regar (right), who were customers of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance. Credit: Special Arrangement.

In a preliminary probe, the special operations group (SOG) of the Rajasthan police established the existence of this  fraud following a complaint by a whistleblower, Nitin Balchandani, an ex-employee of ICICI Prudential.

Subsequently, in November, the SOG launched a full-fledged investigation, booking company officials for cheating, forging documents, criminal conspiracy and criminal breach of trust.

An FIR was registered in the same month under sections 420 (fraud), 467, 468, 471 (forgery), 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code. The FIR, a copy of which The Wire has accessed, specifically names Rohit Saini (Regional Manager, ICICI Prudential, Udaipur), Kamlesh Mehta (Financial Services Consultant, ICICI Prudential Udaipur), Deepak Agarwal (Sales officer, ICICI bank Udaipur) and Satish Kumar Dangi (ICICI employee).

According to the SOG investigation, the bank and its officials misled consumers and violated regulatory norms issued by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI).

“These banks and insurance firms have unrealistic monthly targets. In this case, whenever they gave out loans to farmers or other vulnerable applicants, they put a substantial part of the money in insurance policies with recurring premium. In some cases, they put the entire loan amount in such policies. The farmer has no idea. It’s a comprehensive fraud,” inspector general of police (SOG) Dinesh M.N. told The Wire.

Bholi Bai, a wage labourer under MGNREGA, wanted to put the insurance money she received at her husband’s death into a fixed deposit. The officials at ICICI bank’s Kelwa branch sold her an insurance policy instead.

Bholi, a MGNREGA labourer earning about Rs 3000 a month, thought her money was safe in a FD since she believed “bank mein kuch galat nahin hota (the bank could do no wrong)”.

Bholi Bai, a daily wage labourer. Credit: Special Arrangement.

“I got insurance of Rs 1,00,000 at my husband’s death. I wanted an FD but the bank put my money into an insurance policy. I realised it months later when my mamaji (uncle) saw the bank documents. When I approached them, they told me I had to deposit Rs 50,000 every year only then I would get my money back,” she says.

The Wire sent detailed questionnaires to both companies asking for their comments on the pre-investigation and subsequent FIR. Both companies, however, refused to respond despite repeated emails and phone calls to their officials as well as Adfactors PR, the agency handling their public relations portfolio.

The modus operandi
ICICI and ICICI Prudential officials in the state allegedly used their large database of account holders in rural areas to target unsuspecting consumers, especially farmers, labourers and senior citizens.

Typically, the officials asked the consumers – who would either want to deposit money or seek loans – to put a part of their money/loan into a fixed deposit (FD). They would then make the applicants sign policy documents written in English, claiming they were for an FD. Since most of their customers couldn’t read or write English, they would have no idea about the product they were signing up for.

Manohar Das Vaishnav, who trusted the bank with his retirement money, was shocked when he learnt he had been sold an insurance plan which required him to pay a premium of Rs 1,00,000 every year.

“I got Rs 4,00,000 as gratuity from my employer on retirement. The money was deposited in the ICICI branch in Fatehnagar Udaipur. They got me to sign a form written in English saying it was for a fixed deposit. But they withdrew Rs 1,00,000 from my account and put it in an insurance plan,” says Vaishnav (63), a retired employee of Tilam Sangh, a state run oil company.

The SOG investigation found several irregularities by bank officials – faking age (lowered) and annual income (increased) of applicants, making calls to ICICI call centres posing as the consumer to establish consent, faking witnesses and not cooperating with the police.

“So far, our investigation has revealed fraud and serious violation of IRDAI guidelines. The bank and the insurance authorities also did not cooperate with the investigation and tried to mislead us. The scale of this fraud is massive,” Mahaveer Singh Ranawat, additional SP (SOG) who conducted the preliminary investigation, told The Wire.

The pre-probe established the connivance of officials from ICICI bank, and ICICI Prudential Insurance company.

ICICI Bank and ICICI Prudential Life Insurance officials are under the scanner for violating norms and not getting informed consent. Credit: Reuters

“The complainant got a loan under his Kisan Credit Card from the bank. The bank manager and some officials issued him an insurance policy, with a recurring annual premium of Rs 50,000, out of the loan amount.  The victim was told it was a fixed deposit and made to sign policy documents in English, fraudulently,” the SOG’s investigation report, accessed by The Wire, reads.

“IRDAI norms require the consumer’s signature on the benefit illustration document, which was not done. The applicant’s educational qualification and annual income were falsely increased (to meet eligibility criteria). The applicant says his signature was forged on form 61 (required for premium over Rs 50,000).

Balchandani, the ex-employee who blew the whistle on the fraud, says most insurance companies resorted to similar ploys to meet their targets.

“The fraud was in connivance with ICICI bank and ICICI Prudential. While I was an employee, I informed the senior management about these unethical practices. [However], they started harassing me and pressurised me to leave the company,” says Balchandani.

“I left the company after serving my two-month notice period. Then I started my consulting firm where we raised issues of such poor farmers, widows, BPL members, students etc with the RBI, IRDAI, the Serious Fraud Investigation Office, finance ministry and the Prime Minister’s Office,” he adds.

After leaving ICICI, Balchnadani claims to have helped 400 people get their money back from “almost all insurance companies”.

“However, more than 250 clients were just from ICICI. I believe the level of this fraud is institutional. They have branches in rural areas and had access to database of illiterate people who trusted the bank, which the bank used for their own benefit and target completion,” he alleges.

ICICI’s response
While ICICI Prudential officials did not answer any queries raised by The Wire over email, some officials met this correspondent privately on December 13.

During the meeting, Rajiv Adhikari, the vice president of corporate communication and investor relations, ICICI Prudential, claimed that the company had returned the money to some of the complainants whose names came up during the SOG’s pre-investigation.

The bank has claimed that it has returned the money to the complainants and also alleges that the whistleblower employee helped in duping the customers. Credit: Reuters

However, the police doesn’t accept these claims. SOG additional SP Mahaveer Singh Ranawat maintains that ICICI and ICICI Prudential officials did not cooperate at all with the investigation. He re-affirmed his stance when The Wire contacted him to ask about the company’s version.

“They might have given the money back to not just three but 30 victims. They did that out of fear of the police. But does that mean there was no fraud? Tomorrow if someone steals money from you and then returns it, would it not be theft?” Ranawat said.

Whistleblower targeted
ICICI Prudential officials also accused Balchandani, the ex-employee and whistleblower, of misappropriating money from some clients. Adhikari said the company had filed an FIR against Balchandani, who had to spend a month in judicial custody.

“Yes there was a case against him filed by the company but all I know is it’s in the trial stage now. Whatever the outcome of that, it does not absolve the company and its officials from the crime they committed,” Ranawat told The Wire.

On April 1, 2016, Saini, associate regional manager, filed an FIR against Balchandani at Udaipur’s Bhupalpura police station for harming the company, duping consumers, stealing sensitive data and causing financial loss. However, on April 30, 2016, the police presented a closure report in the court based on the fact that it had not found any wrongdoing on Balchandani’s part.

“The complainant alleged that the respondent (Balchandani) stole sensitive company data but couldn’t present any evidence proving it…the respondent helped those consumers get their money back who approached him after the company failed to help them…(Balchandani) did not profit from the company, nor did the company suffer from any illegal harm…had he duped any consumer, they would have surely complained against him…the investigation clearly establishes that consumers reached out to him because the company did not inform them of the risks and benefits of the policies, nor of the rules regarding getting their money back,” the final report, submitted by investigating officer Himmat Singh in the court, read.

Balchandani claims the case was later re-opened without the standard operating procedure in May or June last year and he was taken into custody on September 26, 2016, just a day before the high court was to begin hearing the PIL filed by him, and consequently, he could not appear in the court.

“After the closure report, the ICICI group again approached me in May 2016 and a meeting was held in Hotel Radisson on June 8 and subsequently on July 5 wherein again I was requested (not threatened this time) to not escalate the cases to regulatory authorities and was promised an appreciation letter for my services and appropriate help by the ICICI group in getting certain approvals from IRDA in setting up of a consumer advocacy group for helping clients affected by misselling of insurance products. However they later refused any appreciation letter or anything else in writing,” Balchandani told The Wire.

“By this time we had realised that our complaints are falling on deaf ears and only the cases highlighted by us were being resolved and the company took no action against their employees to stop such corrupt practices. So I filed a public interest litigation in Rajasthan high court on September 21, 2016, which was listed to be heard for admission on September 27. But I was taken into custody just one day before my scheduled court appearance,” he claims.

(Source: The Wire)

Aadhaar-SIM linking fraud: Man loses Rs 1.3 lakh from his salary account

The Rs 1.3 lakh fraud allegedly happened in the name of linking Aadhaar with SIM. According to one Shashwat Gupta, he lost Rs 1.3 lakhs from his ICICI Bank salary account due to Aadhaar-SIM linking fraud.

This story gives a big lesson to all of us. The Rs 1.3 lakh fraud allegedly happened in the name of linking Aadhaar with SIM. According to one Shashwat Gupta, he lost Rs 1.3 lakhs from his ICICI Bank salary account due to Aadhaar-SIM linking fraud. Shashwat Gupta has written a detailed post on his Facebook account sharing what really happened and how he lost Rs 1.3 lakh from his salary account; the money he had saved for using during the worst times of his life. Shashwat also questioned about the security of his ICICI account. He is demanding that ICICI Bank should refund every single penny which he lost in this incident.

Below is the FULL FB POST revealing what happened with Shashwat:

“And in a blitz, my salary account was looted.

Hi guys! I just lost an amount of Rupees 1.3 lacs from my ICICI Bank salary account. A fraud, claiming to be from Airtel, gave me an ultimatum that Airtel would deactivate my SIM and block my number forever as I had not linked my Aadhar card to my SIM. He urged me to message my SIM card number to 121 (Official Airtel Service Number) and my SIM would be reactivated without any hassle. Little did I know that the fraudster would clone my SIM and loot all my hard earned money and also take away Investments (Fixed Deposits) that I had planned on using during the worst times of my life.

Is this all that was required to break my ICICI Bank Account? Is that how vulnerable technology have left us? I always thought that our accounts are well protected by layers of security. I was under the impression that a person would require my account details or debit card or some sensitive information that only I have, that I have been safeguarding every minute of my life, to break my account. But the truth is all that sensitive stuff is already floating around the criminal world waiting to be raided, as our beloved banks like ICICI Bank haven’t been able to keep what must only be ours, OURS!

It is unbelievable how easy it has become to steal from our accounts. All the fraudsters are doing is trying every trick they can think of to get that one tiny key that would break open a safe that seem to be safeguarded by hundred different locks.

The saddest part of this is, after the loot on day one, ICICI Bank was not able to protect the balance amount. Even after 18 hours of raising Service Request ( S/R 497438380 ) and repeated follow ups on customer care and branch, the Bank was not able to freeze my balance and as a result early next morning the fraudster was easily able to walk away with the remainder amount. Dear ICICI Bank, are your services supposed to end in crisis or are you supposed relieve the customers’ grievances and prevent further damage?

ICICI Bank needs to understand that a fraudster breaks much more than an account with his activities, he breaks a persons’ life.

I feel that the Bank has failed to protect my account effectively and are completely responsible for my losses. I hence demand ICICI Bank to refund every single penny I’ve lost in this incident.
I would also like to speak out to my friends here, guys please be careful and wary of these frauds. The people who we think are securing us, are actually the ones screwing us.”


Shashwat has tagged these profiles in the post too. “ICICI Bank Arun Jaitley Ravi Shankar Prasad Digital India Piyush Goyal Reserve Bank of India Narendra Modi #fraud #ICICIBank Aditi Mallick The Times of India TIMES NOW Hindustan Times MumbaiMirror.com DNA India Airtel India My Malishka DailyO Mumbai Police”

Reacting to the incident ICICI bank said:

ICICI Bank Hi Shashwat Gupta, we deeply regret the inconvenience caused to you. We have made a note of your SR number. Our official will get in touch with you.

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 · 6 October at 19:15

Airtel has also responded to the incident:

Airtel India Hi! Please be informed that as per the government initiative program it is advised not to share any kind of sensitive information to anyone over any kind of platforms as it may lead to fraudulent activities against the account. Further, request you to immediately report the query to the local authority. Thank you, Shivani R

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17

 · 6 October at 20:04

“Hi! Please be informed that as per the government initiative program it is advised not to share any kind of sensitive information to anyone over any kind of platforms as it may lead to fraudulent activities against the account. Further, request you to immediately report the query to the local authority. Thank you, Shivani R,” Airtel’s official FB profile wrote.

(Source: FE)

Cheque in Kannada dishonoured, customer drags bank to court

A customer has dragged ICCI bank to court after his cheque was dishonoured on grounds that the information on it was written in Kannada.

Anand Diwakar Garag has filed a case, alleging lack of service, with the district consumer redressal court in Belagavi. In November, Garag presented a cheque for Rs 17,220 to the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), as premium for his insurance policy.

The LIC handed the cheque over to Corporation Bank, which handles its accounts. However, when the cheque was presented to ICICI for payment, it was returned with a note "present with document".

Before he filed the case, Garag sought clarification from both ICICI bank and LIC as to why his cheque had been dishonoured. However, neither furnished a satisfactory explanation. Garag told TOI that he made Hescom payment in cheques, wherein all details were filled in Kannada.

"My bank told me that the reason they dishonoured my cheque was because the details were filled in Kannada. Also, in another incident that occurred after this one, ICICI bank dishonoured a cheque I had given to a private firm," he said.

The consumer redressal court has issued notices to LIC, ICICI and Corporation Bank in connection with the case, which will be heard on February 28.

(Source: ToI)