Indian Court Forces Tata Docomo to Compensate Bank Fraud Victim after SIM Swap

India Today reports how a court has forced Tata Docomo, an Indian mobile network operator, to pay compensation to a customer who lost the equivalent of USD11,170 in a SIM swap fraud in 2015.

According to Gadgets Now report, the telecom company has to pay Rs 8.2 lakh (USD11,700) as compensation to Utekar for issuing a duplicate SIM to the fraudster. Reportedly, the duplicate SIM helped the fraudsters to rob Rs 7.8 lakh (USD11,170) from Utekar’s bank account via net banking. The criminals were able to activate a new SIM card with Utekar’s mobile phone number. The criminals had used fake documents to acquire a duplicate SIM from the telecom company.

The report says Tata Docomo, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Teleservices, initially argued that the fraud was due to lax security measures on the part of the ICIC Bank. Tata Docomo argued that the money could not be withdrawn without the login ID or password. However, ICIC bank responded that it had a three-level security feature and it wasn’t possible to do so. Tata Docomo was order to pay compensation to the victim, Dattatraya Utekar.

In another recent Indian SIM swap court decision, also over a SIM swap fraud in 2015, both bank and telco were ordered to compensate the victim.

Marianne Curphey
Marianne Curpheyhttps://curpheymedia.co.uk/index.htm
Marianne Curphey is an award-winning freelance writer, blogger and columnist. She is a former Editor of Guardian Money online, City News Editor of The Guardian, Insurance Correspondent of The Times and Deputy Personal Finance Editor at The Times.

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