A consumer commission has ordered ICICI Bank to refund ₹5.18 lakh along with interest and compensation to a woman who lost nearly ₹6.93 lakh in a FedEx parcel scam. According to reports from The Economic Times and Live Law, the incident occurred on 8 January 2023, when the victim received fraudulent calls from someone claiming to be from FedEx customer service. The woman transferred money through four transactions totaling ₹6.93 lakh to a scammer's ICICI Bank account after being threatened with police action. The case has raised fresh questions about a bank's responsibility to detect and respond to suspicious transactions, even when they are authorized by the customer.
The fraudulent transfers included ₹95,000, ₹3.08 lakh, ₹1.9 lakh, and ₹1 lakh made in four separate transactions. As reported by The Economic Times, the woman initially contacted ICICI Bank's customer care and was advised to report the incident on the National Cyber Crime Portal. The bank initially provided a temporary 'shadow credit' on 9 January 2023, but reversed the credit approximately two months later, stating the transactions were authorized through OTP authentication using her registered mobile number. The case highlights the vulnerability of OTP-based authentication systems in preventing fraudulent transfers.
The Banking Ombudsman initially directed ICICI Bank to credit ₹1.75 lakh (approximately 25% of the disputed amount). However, the woman approached the consumer commission, arguing that the bank failed to take preventive steps despite the RBI's customer protection framework. According to the commission's order, the bank was held liable for 'deficiency in service, negligence, and unfair trade practices' under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019. The latest ruling demonstrates the commission's commitment to strengthening consumer protection standards and establishing clearer boundaries between customer responsibility and bank accountability in fraud prevention.
The commission examined unusual activity in the beneficiary account, which belonged to a plastic products manufacturer with an annual income of ₹1 lakh to ₹5 lakh and turnover of up to ₹40 lakh. As reported by The Economic Times, the account had virtually no transactions in December 2022, February 2023, and until 14 March 2023, but saw ₹2.84 crore worth of credit and debit transactions during January 2023. The commission noted that such inconsistent and unusually high-value transactions should have triggered closer monitoring by the bank, raising questions about the bank's transaction monitoring systems.
The Nagpur consumer commission has ordered ICICI Bank to refund the remaining ₹5.18 lakh with 9% annual interest. Additionally, the bank must pay ₹35,000 as compensation for physical and mental agony suffered by the woman and ₹10,000 towards litigation costs. The ruling demonstrates that banks may still be held accountable for failing to detect suspicious transactions, even when transfers are authorized by customers through OTP authentication. This case highlights the importance of enhanced consumer protection measures in the banking sector and establishes precedent for future scam-related disputes.
