- Reader’s salary account was hacked on August 6, 2018.
- There were fraudulent transactions in amounting to Dh14,604.73.
- A total of 28 transactions were conducted within a minute.
I am an account holder with Commercial Bank International (CBI) for the past four years. My salary account was hacked on August 6, 2018 and there were fraudulent transactions in terms of bank withdrawal in Kanchipuram and Chennai, India amounting to Dh14,604.73 in a total of 28 transactions within a minute. The debit card is with me all the time.
There is no question of my card information being stolen because last time I was in Delhi, India was in March 2018. Moreover I belong to Bangalore hence there is no way I would use the card in Chennai or Kanchipuram where I never go.
I had balance of Dh14,624.46 while such fraudulent ATM withdrawal took place and my balance became Dh19.73. During all these back-to-back transactions within a minute, my debit card wasn’t blocked nor did the bank call me stating why so many withdrawals are being done. After returning from the daily run, I noticed such fraud transaction messages and I immediately called the bank who blocked my ATM card.
Till date there has not been a single call or attempt from bank to contact me and whenever I follow-up they are simply stating, “Yes we confirm that it is fraudulent transaction and our team is investigating the matter and such cases generally takes 60 days.”
I am getting more concerned as it’s been a month now and how sure should I be that CBI is really investigating this and shall resolve the matter.
Banks talk about withdrawal limits, transaction limits and so on. I am surprised how such transactions took place and bank didn’t bother to even notify its customers.
I have been struggling to get updates from CBI but there is no response at all from them since last month. All they did is send me a dispute settlement form by email after me literally begging to take action since they weren’t bothered.
It’s been a month since they blocked my debit card and they haven’t issued me a new card. During the last conversation with customer care when I asked this, they said someone will contact me and here we go not even a single call from them yet.
I request Gulf News to please intervene and help me with this regard so that I can get my hard earned money back.
From Mr Manivellan Shanmugam
Abu Dhabi
The management of CBI responds: The case relates to disputed transactions on a CBI Mastercard debit card. Whilst we are unable to comment on this particular case due to customer confidentiality, we can confirm that all banks are mandated to follow the Mastercard transaction dispute process. Mastercard’s service level agreement is to provide resolution within 60 days. CBI takes all customer disputes seriously and we do our absolute best to follow up and ensure all Mastercard cases are resolved within their 60-day promise.
Mr Shanmugam responds: Finally, I received a call from CBI for the first time and they have instructed me to visit the nearest branch to submit my blocked debit card and also my passport with a copy of all the pages. Meanwhile, I also received an email from them stating that the debited amount shall be provisionally refunded to my account. Thanks for your support and I hope this is settled in entirety.
(Process initiation: September 18. Response from organisation: September 18. Reader confirms: September 19.)
Editor’s note: Do you have similar issues that you would like to raise with us? You can write to us at readers@gulfnews.com
