ATM Fraud: SBI to give customer ‘full refund’ and 10% interest after Delhi consumer forum order | Mint

The Delhi State Consumer Forum, in its order to the State Bank of India (SBI), directed the institutional lender to refund a customer’s full amount of along with an interest of 10% per annum after the bank mistakenly approved a fraudulent ATM transaction 11 years ago, reported the news portal ET Wealth on Wednesday, 9 July 2025. 

According to the news portal’s report, the bank accidentally approved a fraudulent ATM transaction in a situation where the customer, Panwar, witnessed his bank card being used at Guwahati Railway Station to withdraw cash three times without his consent.

How much will SBI pay the customer?

After 11 years of filing a formal complaint with the Delhi District Consumer Commission, the forum ordered the State-run bank to pay ₹20,000 (the full refund amount) and directed SBI to pay a 10% p.a. interest rate from the date of the fraud (4 January 2014) to the realisation period. 

The Delhi District Consumer Commission on 25 October 2017 also directed SBI to pay the customer ₹5,000 for all the litigation costs and ₹10,000 for the mental distress and harassment he experienced, according to the news report.

After the district forum order, the State Bank of India appealed to the Delhi State Consumer Forum, which said that there was no illegality or material irregularity in the district consumer commission’s order and directed the bank to clear out the dues to the customer, according to the 7 May 2025 order cited in the news report.

How was the customer defrauded?

Panwar, the SBI customer, used his debit card to withdraw money from an ATM at the Guwahati Railway Station. However, his attempt at withdrawing ₹1,000 failed, as the transaction was unsuccessful. After that, as per the report, he had to go to a nearby Indian Overseas Bank ATM to withdraw the money. 

Later, after boarding his train for Delhi, he received three SMS messages from SBI confirming successful ATM cash withdrawals of ₹1,000, ₹20,000 and ₹1,000 using his bank card.

According to the news portal’s report, after reaching Delhi, Panwar filed a complaint related to the fraudulent transaction in his bank account. Despite filing an online complaint requesting that SBI provide CCTV footage of the ATM, the bank did not respond or take any action against the complaint.

After receiving no response from the bank, Panwar filed two complaints with the RBI Banking Ombudsman due to the misplacement of the first filing. Later, after receiving no response, he finally filed the complaint with the Delhi District Consumer Forum, alleging deficiency in service and requesting a refund.

Aakanksha Nehra, a Partner at the law firm, PSL Advocates & Solicitors, told the news portal that the order applauds the efficient customer who had taken prompt action in reporting an unauthorised transaction that was reported in the bank account, but never received by the consumer.

Hence, swift and prompt reporting of any such occurrences is the key to getting the money recovered through the legal proceedings, said Nehra, according to the news portal’s report.