Search analysis reveals that the number of people searching for ATM Fraud is the highest in India all across the globe. Even our Electronic Banking Frauds in India report suggests how the humongous growth in ATM frauds have led to disruption in the banking sector which no agency is proactively addressing. Age old modus operandi and tactics are now being used in India to defraud innocent and cyber-unaware citizens of the country. 

ATM Fraud – What should you do?

As a group of self-driven cyber-activists, we have helped thousands of victims till date and also been able to secure relief for many of them. This post is a follow up of our earlier post on Money Fraudulently Withdrawn and goes into the things that you must do as a victim of an ATM Fraud. Please note that this post is not legal advice and hence should not be construed in the same sense. Without clogging your screens any more, here is the list of 5 things that you should do:

1. Block your card: As basic as this may sound, many users do not block their cards right away when they lose money in an ATM fraud. Please be advised that most of these fraudulent withdrawals happen at odd hours in the night when you are asleep and unavailable to check your messages. One proactive step that you could take is to use cards that offer a facility for switching your card on/off for transactions. 
2. Collect data about all fraud transactions: Add up all the money that has been withdrawn from the transaction reference numbers and locations of ATMs and keep this as documented information. You may find this info on your net banking/m-banking account if you have them activated. In all other cases, you will need to obtain this from the bank through a passbook update/account statement. 
3. Report to your bank: Yes, you must report to your bank before reporting to the police. Now, many banks have a dedicated dispute form for reporting cases. However, in practice, we have observed that an application worded to suit legal requirements of reporting serves better and the probability of relief increases. You can get in touch with us for the application process. Attach all your documentation with the application and submit to the bank. But please make sure to take a written receiving from the bank for your application with the authorized personnel’s signature and bank’s stamp. 
4. Report to your local police station: No, you do not need to go to the cyber cell for reporting these cases. If any responding officer does not entertain your complaint and register the FIR, you can get in touch with us. Reporting an ATM fraud, as little the amount as it may be, is very crucial in order to suggest proactive policy measures to tackle this growing problem. So, it is our humble request to you to kindly take out some time and register the FIR. 
5. Follow up: Your first follow up should be with the bank in about 10 days. After a lapse of 90 days, however, you can give an application to the RBI Ombudsman near you about the dispute. There are other methods to get relief after this which falls outside the scope of this post but we will be happy to answer your queries if you have them.

In case you have been a victim of an ATM Fraud and are worried, do not panic. Read this post and take the necessary steps. 

PS: We are not a law enforcement agency. None of our posts constitutes legal advice.