KARACHI: President Arif Avi on Saturday ordered Habib Bank Ltd (HBL) to “refund and recompense” the six victims of fraud, lending the authority of his office to regular depositors who were duped.
The president dismissed the six “representations” HBL made in opposition to the earlier rulings of the banking ombudsman, an independent federal agency that assists in mediating conflicts between commercial banks and the parties that submit complaints.The appeal that a person or organisation files with the president within 30 days of receiving a decision from the banking ombudsman is known as a “representation.”
One million rupees in all was at stake in the six instances.The account holders were called by fraudsters who gave them their names, personal identity card passwords, dates of birth, and ATM card numbers. The names of the depositors’ mothers, a crucial piece of information necessary to complete online transactions, were then obtained by the con artists from the unwitting depositors.
The crooks utilised this information to conduct many e-commerce transactions to steal the account holders’ deposits. Even when the bank customers were in possession of their ATM cards and weren’t utilising any mobile apps, the fraudsters were nevertheless able to pull off the con.
The victims attempted to contact their various banks to freeze their accounts and request reimbursements, but they received no assistance.
