Man shares OTP with fraudsters; consumer court says he can't blame bank for losing money
Mumbai (PTI): A consumer commission has dismissed a complaint filed by a Mumbai resident who lost over Rs 1.25 lakh to an online scam, noting that he himself had shared a One-Time Password (OTP) with fraudsters and the bank can not be blamed in such a situation.
District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (Suburban) comprising president Pradeep Kadu and member Gauri M Kapse, in the order last month, accepted that the complainant had fallen prey to a fraud.
But, "RBI clearly specifies that if the loss is due to negligence by the customer, the entire loss is to be borne by the customer himself," said the commission.
As per the complainant, while trying to renew his Netflix subscription in January 2022, he clicked on a link received in his email. Not realising that the email had not come from Netflix, he clicked on it, and filled in his card details and an OTP received from HDFC Bank. Seconds later, he received an SMS from the bank confirming a transaction of Rs 1,25,665.
The subscription amount was only Rs 799. He realised that he had been the victim of a cyber scam, and immediately contacted the bank as well as the cyber cell of police.
The bank closed his complaint, with comments '"we observe that the aforesaid transaction was incurred on a secure mode post validating OTP which is confidential and known only to the card holder".
Not satisfied with the HDFC Bank's response, the complainant approached the consumer commission, arguing that the illegal withdrawal of money was due to the bank's negligence and there was a deficiency in its service.
The bank argued that the complainant himself had clicked on a fraudulent link, and an OTP was generated as all details matched his credentials.
There was no reason for the bank to decline the transaction, it said.
The commission in its order acknowledged that a fraud had taken place, but pointed out that the complainant had himself shared "confidential credentials" (OTP) with fraudsters.
Reserve Bank's guidelines in this regard clearly specify that if a loss is due to negligence of the customer, "the entire loss is to be borne by customer himself," it added.
Hence, there was no "deficiency in service" on the bank's part, the consumer commission said.
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Woman held for using AI to morph photos of ex-colleague to settle personal grudge
Chennai (PTI): A woman was arrested for allegedly using AI to morph photos of a former colleague and circulating them on social media as an act of revenge, Tamil Nadu Cyber Crime Wing officials said on Wednesday.
The accused, a former employee of a Chennai-based firm, allegedly targeted a senior executive of the same company to settle a personal grudge.
According to a release from the Cyber Crime Wing Headquarters, the investigation was triggered by a complaint regarding the misuse of digital platforms to harass and defame the victim.
"The investigation established that the accused had deliberately misused social media platforms to threaten, harass, and publicly humiliate the victim as an act of revenge," the police statement said.
The matter came to light on January 4, when several employees of the victim's company received Instagram follow requests from unknown IDs. These accounts were found to be circulating objectionable and defamatory content, including morphed images of the victim created using various AI applications. The police noted that the images were downloaded from the official website of the company.
Technical analysis of digital footprints, social media activity, and IP logs led the State Cyber Crime Investigation Centre to the suspect. The accused has been remanded to judicial custody.
Director General of Police (Cyber Crime Wing), Sandeep Mittal cautioned citizens to remain vigilant and use social media platforms responsibly. "Circulation of cyber harassment, online abusive and offensive content through social media is a punishable offence," he stated in the advisory.
The public has been urged to safeguard personal data and report such incidents immediately through the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP) or by dialing the toll-free assistance number 1930.
The investigation was conducted under the guidance of Superintendent of Police (Cyber Crime Wing) Adarsh Pachera, according to the statement.
