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Banks may claim that Internet and mobile banking services are safe but complaints against fraudulent transactions on the online platforms are on the rise.
The RBI Banking Ombudsman, which receives complaints from customers regarding discrepancies in banking services, has registered an increase in the number of fraudulent Internet banking transaction cases, involving phishing and compromise of security information.
With mobile phones being increasingly used for communicating one-time passwords for such banking transactions, the verification standards by telecom operators while issuing duplicate SIM cards is now emerging as a major area of safety concern, M. Sebastian, RBI’s CGM and Banking Ombudsman for Andhra Pradesh said.
“Instances have been reported of fraudsters intercepting one-time passwords by fraudulently obtaining duplicate SIM cards of bank customers,” he told media persons here on Thursday.
The RBI Ombudsman is taking up the issue through RBI and banks with the mobile operators.
SBI has the largest share of complaints.
Release data on customers’ complaints in Andhra Pradesh, Sebastian said, showed State Bank of India and its associate banks accounted for the largest share (47.2 per cent) of the complaints from customers in 2011-12.
In fact, public sector banks as a whole accounted for 72 per cent of the complaints. “This could be because these banks handle higher volumes of transactions and invest lesser compared to private banks on required infrastructure,” he pointed out.
The Ombudsman received 5,267 complaints during the year. Of this, 2,439 complaints were from customers of SBI and its associate banks. Foreign banks accounted for 258 customer complaints, including Standard Chartered (91), HSBC (61), Citibank (46) and Royal Bank of Scotland (35).
ATM, debit and credit card related complaints accounted for the largest concentration of complaint cases, with a 29.22 per cent share. Complaints relating to disbursement of Central Government pensions and operations in deposit accounts are other significant causes with 9.3 per cent and 8.3 per cent share respectively.
During the year, the State Ombudsman closed 5,108 of the 5,267 complaints under different provisions of the Banking Ombudsman Scheme.
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