‘Extortions’ from bank accounts
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Bank officials freeze a person's bank account without any prior warning. On inquiry, it transpires that somebody filed a complaint about the bank account somewhere in Gujarat. Another person’s account gets blocked after a complaint is filed by a few persons at a police station in Telangana. The account of yet another person is frozen following a complaint filed in Himachal Pradesh, citing a transaction that never took place. A complaint that led to the blocking of another person's account came from Rajasthan. In the last few days, several incidents have come to light where the bank accounts of many customers have been frozen saying that there were mysterious complaints about the accounts and claims, bogus or genuine, that transactions took place with those accounts. From the experiences of the victims, it is clear that a group or groups have posed a great threat to the financial security of the country and its people by spreading serious breaches and fraud. It is also alleged that there are frauds happening that cannot be carried out without the connivance of the banks and police. There have been instances where bankers have instructed the customers to contact the police station where the complaint was lodged and then the customers were charged money - undocumented - for reopening their accounts. A lot of information has been revealed about negotiations taking place regarding the amount to be paid to reopen the account; about the police fixing the issues related to the bank account within just an hour of accepting the bribe.
We should not only be disturbed by the depth and extent of these frauds that were brought to light by 'Media One' news channel. Those responsible to comply with law as well as to enforce it, including the banks and the police, committed a sheer violation of the law. A number of extortion via the UPI (Unified Payments Interface) have been carried out by leveraging the potential of the cyber crimes reporting portal. How were the banks able to freeze an account without even informing the customer by violating all the legal guidelines as soon as a notification arrives? Who are the bank officials responsible for all these decisions? What does it mean when the banks, which initially claimed to be helpless, were willing to fix the flaws when customers went for legal action? It simply means what they initially said was wrong. Every rule, from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) rules to the Uttarakhand High Court's 2021 verdict, was violated. There is no doubt that if somebody has committed a crime, then legal action should be taken against him. But didn’t the police officials who ordered to freeze the accounts without an FIR or even identified complainants, and the banks that followed their orders, violate the law? Or is there a vicious circle including the 'complainants', police and bank officials behind all this? As long as many such questions remain unanswered, the stain on the credibility of the banks and digital transactions cannot be erased.
It's not only about credibility. Frauds and violations of the law have been taking place after finding loopholes in a number of mechanisms related to digital transactions. They have the potential to destroy the economy from within. There are indications that UPI scams have led to the loss of privacy of the accounts. The complete details of the client accounts are accessible to any 'policeman' and through him to any by fraudsters. Linking Aadhaar with bank accounts facilitates this. The reason that at least some of the frauds taking place came to light is because such incidents were reported, the victims sought legal assistance and the lawyers raised questions regarding the matter as well. It is assumed that since the fraudsters targeted the middle class and not the big corporates, the matter neither became a big issue nor was there any case filed or investigation surrounding it and that it is only a series of underworld scams, that could have been a bogus way of income of sorts for a few. It can also be assumed that it was the accounts in Kerala that were targeted by the fraudsters. The state finance minister is looking into the matter. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Finance Ministry have also been apparently notified of this. In fact, even a single fraud in any of the banks needs to be investigated Suo moto by the Centre and the Reserve Bank of India, quick action can be expected in such a case of widespread exploitation. The Kerala High Court has also raised serious questions on the matter. From banks that functioned without any law or procedures to the police that facilitated financial crimes, everybody is obligated to answer.
