True Account Misuse Debit Card & how to take Action in Such Eventuality

This is a retired Officer report regarding his debit card being swiped for Rs 50,000/- for two transactions of Rs 40,000/- and Rs 10,000/- in an ATM at Kolkata, while he was residing at NOIDA. He posted this problem in our social media group, was guided by as to how to remedy this situation. He took all the necessary actions to do so. Now Rs 50,000/- will be credited back to his account by the bank.

Please do go through his thankful reply to the group for guiding him correctly. After all, it could happen to any of us :-

I had both the alert notifications ON for transactions, i.e. email & SMS. I didn't get the SMS alert (an indication of some back end server guys involvement).

Blocking card & internet banking within 15 min helped as my card had daily transaction limit of 1.0 Lakh (loss was 50K & could have been more). The limit can be reduced as per actual requirement.

Filed eFIR online (UPCOP App is better I'm told) today morning - abou 10 mins job.

While driving to PS Sec 20 Noida got a confirmation call from UP Central Cyber Cell Lucknow of FIR with diary number.

Downloaded the eFIR at PS Sec 20 and got it stamped & signed - about 5-7 mins (we can download it ourselves too & get a copy stamped & signed to save a few minutes)

Went to ICICI Bank Sec 18 and briefed Branch Mgr on the incident.

Filled out Cardmember Dispute Form attached eFIR copy & Adhaar Card - about 10-15 minutes.

Br Mgr has advised that full amount would be remitted to my account as 'Provisional Refund' but I can't use it till completion of the investigation, which is max 23 days (I have doubts on this but let's see)

Most important is to prove that it wasn't me but someone else who did the transaction and at some faraway place, for which I shall attach my office xxxx Punch in Punch out record (thank God I do it diligently). This would prove that I was in Gr Noida & not Kolkata at the time when the crime took place. Else one must quickly use the same card and do some transaction at the nearest ATM/ Bank before blocking it. But this carries the risk of the further fraudulent transaction happening in the meantime.

Now that the basic complaints etc are in place, I have been advised to write a comprehensive mail to ICICI Bank Mgr detailing out the sequence of events & actions taken chronology with all relevant attachments. This mail would be copy to a lot of officials starting from PMO down the line to every agency associated with this kind of crime/ fraud investigation. Will share the details subsequently.

Noida being an IT hub is a centre of Cyber Crime with hoards of tech-savvy youngsters. It's impossible to keep the card safe here till the time one is using it with the kind of gadgets and ways & means available to clone the card/skimming.

An opportunity for the entrepreneurs as seeing the banking challenge we can have an App which could automatically change the PIN of all the cards every midnight and send a notification of new PIN or it can be opt-in service by banks where withdrawal of cash be linked to an OTP. You can get motivated with another entrepreneurs success story here and not to forget to fill your email in the subscription inbox to get free banking tips in your email.