Mumbai Consumer Commission Orders HDFC Bank To Pay ₹92,525 To Fraud Victim, Cites Service Deficiency

Mumbai, September 30, 2026: The Central Mumbai District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (DCDRC) has passed an order in favour of a Borivali-based man who lost Rs 92,525 in fraudulent transactions despite informing HDFC Bank and asking it to freeze his bank account.

The commission held the bank guilty of deficiency in service and adopting an unfair trade practice in providing services. It directed the bank to pay the amount lost by the complainant along with 9 per cent interest from May 2023, Rs 10,000 towards the complainant’s mental distress and Rs 5,000 towards litigation expenses.

RBI Rules On Unauthorised Transactions

The commission, in its order, referred to a 2017 circular issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), under which the liability of customers in unauthorised electronic banking transactions has been limited. The circular is binding on all banks.

“Under the said circular it is provided that if customer reports unauthorized transaction within a period 3 working days and it is proved that deficiency is on part of bank irrespective of customer negligence, customer has ZERO liability. In the present case, the Complainant has immediately brought the said fraudulent transaction on 31st May, 2023 itself to the knowledge of HDFC bank at its Vasai (East) branch and infact was very well present in the said bank and he requested immediate blocking/freezing of account and UPI. Therefore, the present third party unauthorised transaction falls under Zero Liability of the customer and the bank is liable to pay the said amount to the Complainant. The facts that the bank gave provisional credit of Rs.92,525.10 after customer care blocked account, but later reversed it without final investigation report. This reversal of provisional credit without giving final investigation is unfair trade practice. Hence the Opposite Party no.1 is liable to reverse the full amount to the Complainant in his account,” the order copy read.

Fraudulent UPI Transactions Reported

As per Sanjeev Joshi, a resident of Borivali West, he was contacted on WhatsApp by a fraudster posing as a DTDC courier agent and was asked to pay Rs 3 through a link. Soon after, nine fraudulent UPI transactions totalling Rs 92,526.10 were carried out from his HDFC account.

“The Complainant has stated that since he was physically present near the HDFC Bank Vasai (East) Branch during the incident, he requested the staff of the said branch to block his bank account and freeze transactions immediately. The Complainant has alleged that the staff of the said Bank allegedly failed to act promptly, claiming an inability to freeze UPI transactions at their level. The Complainant has stated that the Customer Care of the bank subsequently blocked the account and locked/froze the fraudulent transactions, but the bank thereafter credited and reversed provisional credits Rs.92,525.10 without permanently restoring the Complainant’s amount. The Complainant has submitted that he never installed or used the UPI application of the HDFC bank so no valid password authentication was generated by him.

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The commission, in its order, mentioned that the bank had not denied the said facts.

The complainant specifically stated that the said transactions were not made by him. In support of his case, the complainant produced the bank statement of HDFC bank dated May 31, 2023.

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