Kerala High Court orders SBI to refund ₹3.73 lakh to cyber fraud victim

Kerala High Court building in Ernakulam.

The Kerala High Court recently ordered the State Bank of India (SBI) to refund ₹3.73 lakh to a cyber fraud victim. The court said she was entitled to a refund because she had reported the fraudulent transaction to the bank and the police within the stipulated time.

Justice Harisankar V. Menon observed that the bank did not take any steps to credit the amount siphoned from her account even though she filed a complaint immediately after the incident. Even after the police detected the fraudster, the bank did not take any further action, the court observed.

“Debit Card Blocking”

The Claimant stated that on the morning of July 13, 2019, she received a text message that her debit card had been proposed for blocking and that she could reactivate it online. It has been pointed out earlier that non-chip debit cards are to be blocked by SBI. Later, she got a call from the same phone number that the debit card was blocked. She was then directed to provide details such as a one-time password to register for the ‘State Bank Secure App’.

Immediately after sharing the OTP, ₹3.73 was deducted from her account. She immediately called SBI customer care and blocked her bank account. Subsequently, she also complained to the branch manager and the Mattannur police.

Complaint rejected

Subsequently, the police found that Sandip Bauri of West Bengal had stolen the appellant’s money. The complainant appealed to the banking ombudsman for a refund, but her complaint was rejected. The ombudsman argued that the petitioner was an insider to the entire transaction and was therefore not entitled to a refund. The petitioner claimed that she thought she was giving an OTP for registering in the app and that there would be a separate OTP for withdrawing money.

The court found that it was clear from the police reports that the petitioner was not privy to the fraud and directed the SBI to transfer the amount sent to her account.

Published – 21 Oct 2026 19:44 IST