Mumbai: The adjudicating officer of the Mantralaya (department of information technology) has held the Idea Cellular Company, which is now known as Vodafone-Idea Company, guilty of failing to detect forged documents, further issuing the replacement SIM card securely, which thus caused a loss of more than Rs nine lakh to one of their customers.
The authority has thus asked the network service provider to compensate with the entire loss of Rs 9.20 lakhs, along with an additional amount of Rs 5 lakhs in compensation for the distress and financial loss suffered by the complainant.
Yupika Enterprise and Paramount Abrasives had filed a joint complaint against the Bank of India and mobile network service providers after they were cheated by fraudsters for Rs 9.20 lakhs. As per the complaint, the mobile number that was connected to their bank accounts suddenly stopped working on January 16, 2016. The complainants had tried to reach out to the call center’s to address their problems, but they failed.
When the complainant’s approached the service centers, They were informed that an application was made on the company’s letterhead by an unknown person for a SIM exchange at the Ulhasnagar Branch of Idea Cellular. The impersonator provided a PAN card and SIM replacement NOC in the name of an authority signature.
Within a short span of the application, the sim was deactivated, and on January 18, two illegal transactions took place, which withdrew the amounts from the company’s account.
The network service provider, however, opposed the charges on the grounds that a judgment passed by the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal has held that operators receiving forged documents are not liable unless collusion or conspiracy is proven. The service providers cannot be held responsible if documents submitted by customers are forged without their knowledge.
The authority passing the orders held that the network provider is obligated to adhere to the stringent guidelines established by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to ensure the security and integrity of the customer's transactions.
