Bank not liable for transaction if consumer shares OTP: Panel

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Chandigarh, February 3

The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission Chandigarh has dismissed a complaint filed by a woman against a bank after holding that the complainant herself was responsible for the illegal transaction as she had shared the one-time password (OTP) received from the bank.

Poonam Rani, in the complaint filed before the commission, stated that she had two accounts with Punjab National Bank. There were repeated 35 withdrawals amounting to Rs 5,30,241.61 from her savings bank account. She alleged that those withdrawals were not at her instance, but by

some third party on account of deficiency in service

and negligence on the part of the bank.

She stated that on December 21, 2020, she had received a message regarding online registration and about OTP, which she had shared. However, she did not share any OTP thereafter, but still debit entries/transfers were made from her two accounts on December 24, 2020, which was totally due to the negligence and deficiency on the part of the bank, she alleged.

On the other hand, the bank denied any lapse on its part. The bank stated that the complainant received a message on December 21, 2020, regarding online registration and the OTP was shared by her, which was a mistake committed by her. It is negligence and lapse on the part of the complainant if the money as alleged was withdrawn from her accounts while the debit card was in her possession as she had herself shared the OTP. As such, the bank is not liable in any manner.

After hearing the arguments, the commission observed that it was very clear that the complainant herself shared the OTP for the online registration.

The complainant reported the matter about unauthorised debit entries to the bank after six days. The commission stated that it was also observed from records that the bank immediately took up the matter with the Cyber Crime Monitoring Cell. In view of the above, the commission observed, the complainant was herself responsible for the illegal transactions from her bank accounts. She had failed to prove any deficiency in service on the part of the opposite parties. Accordingly, the consumer complaint, being meritless, was hereby dismissed, the panel added.