Fraudulent withdrawl from bank account in June 15; account frozen since then; bank does not respond?

Question

In June 2015, a major amount of money was charged to my account. This fraudulent transaction was reported to bank immediately and after sending a few details / written applications my account was blocked. I requested for a reversal of the amount and unfreezing of the account, but all bank wanted to do is harass the customers. I have sent many applications, police FIR report, original debit card, bank reversal forms, and numerous emails but nothing has happened. Since a month now bank has even stopped replying to my email reminders. I am facing a major money crunch and need the money at the earliest. I have a lot of pressure on me. bank is making me beg for my own money. Please help me resolve this issue. I shall provide all details, documents, Police FIR, and email chains, whenever required. I am in urgent need.

Answer 1

Dear Ketan,

At the outset, let me clarify that this site is designed by a group of senior Banking Professionals to assist Bank Customers at large to provide guidance for resolution of any complain/query/grievance in respect of financial services. This site does not belong to any Bank or a regulator, which may please be noted.

You claim that your bank froze operations in your account following a dispute raised by you regarding a debit transaction. You also claim that this was a fraudulent. Let me clarify that recovery of charges by your bank cannot be termed as fraud.

You have also claimed that you lodged an FIR and provided a copy to your bank. This leads me to think what you are not talking about recovery of charges by your bank but an unauthorised debit. In the absence of clarity on the nature of the transaction I am not in a position to offer comment or guidance.

Since the matter has been pending for more than  5 months and you are not allowed to operate your  account and also the bank has stopped  responding  to your communications, without losing further time, you should escalate the matter to the Banking Ombudsman for resolution. While writing to the BO, please provide complete details and also enclose the communications exchanged with the bank including copy of the FIR

For address of the Office of the Banking Ombudsman, Area of Operation (jurisdiction) and the procedure for lodging complaint, you may access the website https://bankingombudsman.rbi.org.in/

 

Regards

 

J R Mohandas