I am a doctor by profession working at AIIMS, Hospital New Delhi for the past few years. I have been a Citibank credit card holder for the past 7-8 years. Since past few years I have been using a Gold card and have always maintained a good credit history.
On 19th of December, I noticed a message on my phone regarding some transaction of Rs.5187/- made in the favour of TELEBRANDS. I immediately called the customer care number to speak to a citiphone officer to inform that this is a fraud transaction as I had not made any such transaction.
The Citiphone officer by the name of Mr. John, informed me that a transaction had been made in the name of TELEBRANDS- BILLDESK and another attempt had been made on the same day to do a transaction of Rs. 12, 000, which thankfully had been blocked by the bank (I don’t know the reason for the same). I informed him that I have not made any such transaction and this transaction should be stopped immediately and got my card blocked. I was asked to mail a Card Declaration form (CDF) at the earliest so that the investigation can be initiated, which I mailed in an hour’s time. I requested to please get the investigation initiated at the earliest so that if the transaction is Delivery Based the delivery may be stopped at the earliest and the address given by the fraud can be located and perpetrators can be caught red-handed.
I got a call from citphone officer today on December 23rd/12/09 (after 5 days) informing me that surprisingly the investigation has still not been initiated by the bank as they have not received the CDF till date, giving a window of opportunity for the fraudsters who used my card details to go scot free. I had sent the form on the same night after talking to the concerned officer, and I have the BCC copy of the same, I am also in possession of a mail from the bank confirming me of the same. When I told the same to the officer and explained that the delay in investigation may have only helped the fraud transaction go through, he disconnected the phone. I’m sure he realized his mistake soon, as to add to the confusion I received a mail immediately from Citi customer care officer named S.Prasad that he had already received the CDF form on 20th December itself.
I would like to ask why wasn’t the investigation initiated at the earliest to catch the fraud and suspend the transaction by getting it cancelled at the earliest. This slow and casual response on behalf of the bank reflects a lack of willingness to catch the frauds behind this transaction and safeguard the interest of a troubled customer.
Dr. Varun Malhotra
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