Security Lapse in ICICI Credit Card Division Led to Fraud

It is not uncommon to hear about free flow of Personal Information from the Banks / Financial Institutions because of poor security measures and checks in the banking industry which is very vital at this point of time. A reader of our Website, a corporate customer from Delhi NCR writes about his plight of bitter experience with ICICI Bank Credit Card seeking advise as follows, [75012]

I am a credit card holder of ICICI Bank, my VISA credit card no is 43755XXXX490002. On 19.08.2013 Rs 70,000 has been debited from my credit card by fraud transaction. Even my mobile number has been changed without my knowledge. My mobile no is 7208877XXX but it is changed to 9967237891( I got to know this information from bank’s customer care). Among the fraudulent transactions, an amount of Rs 5000 has been refunded within two days but the rest stand disputed. Several times I complain & requested to customer care and other representative of your Bank but till no solution has been provided. My SR (complain) Number is 280042471 dated 20.08.2013 and complain to police station on 22.08.2013 by instruction of your customer care. Depend on that amount every month your bank is calculating the interest and your representatives are using slam language. I therefore pray to you to please credit that amount to my credit card account. Thanks & Regards Dipendra Nath Bhowmick

ICICI Bank has written to him as follows,
Dear Customer, As on month Jan 15, 2014, the total overdue amount on your ICICI Bank Credit Card 4375xxxxxxxx0002 is 92989. The status of the outstanding on your credit card has been submitted to the Credit Bureaus like Credit Information Bureau of India Ltd (CIBIL).

We advised Mr. Dipendra to raise the following questions with the bank as we suspect their could be a serious security breach in the ICICI Cards Division.


1. Under the RBI’s Master Circular on Credit Card / Debit Card, the onus of proving disputed transactions lies on the Bank and not on the customer. ICICI Credit Cards Division has to furnish evidence of transaction along with your signature on the transaction slip which should match the one on the records. The customer is requested to dispute in writing to the cards division with a CC of the letter marked to the banks ombudsman for resolution within 30 days.

2. How can the Mobile Number on records be changed ? As a customer of the Bank, you have the right to dispute this as well and ask for evidence submitted while changing the registered mobile number. ICICI Bank may have poor security and breaches which the internal IT Systems must audit without any delay.

3. As far as update to CIBIL is concerned, RBI in an exclusive letter written to CardBhai Readers have stated that the bank has to make efforts to resolve the dispute on a well laid out procedure.

So if you are a victim of security laps and fraudulent transaction, you can follow the steps mentioned above and defend your right as credit / debit card customer.