Lost money in online fraud? Follow THESE steps to recover funds

New Delhi: Amid the pandemic, the number of cybercrimes such as online frauds is on the rise. In just the last year, more than 2.7 crore adults became victims of identity theft according to a report by security research firm Norton Lifelock. 

Hackers are misusing our personal and financial information to loot money from the accounts of innocent people.

Hackers steal crucial information such as passwords and personal information to plan the loot. Usually, they steal money from the bank accounts of innocuous people via OTP fraud and UPI fraud. 

Losing money in such frauds is quite frustrating as there seems to be no way out. However, you can actually try to get your money back by following some simple steps.

For those uninitiated, online transactions are financial transactions conducted on digital platforms. Hackers use duplicate websites that look like genuine ones to organise online frauds. 

Victims of such frauds can get a full refund of unauthorised transactions, according to banking rules. 

For this, however, account holders need to immediately inform the involved parties such as payment gateway, bank and others to get the refund from the fraud. 

According to RBI, 'If you have suffered a loss due to unauthorized electronic transactions, your liability may be limited, but also zero, if you notify your bank immediately.'

So, how can you get lost money back?

Most banks have got their customers insured from financial frauds. So, in case of money lost due to unauthorised banking transactions, customers need to inform the bank immediately to get the benefit of the insurance. 

Upon informing the bank, it'll immediately inform the insurance company about the fraud to limit the customer's liability. 

The loss is usually compensated by the bank within 10 working days. Banks and insurance companies usually compensate the funds lost due to unauthorised transactions. 

Customers need to inform the bank about the unauthorised transaction within three days. If a customer fails to inform the bank about the loss within three days then he or she can face a loss of up to Rs 25,000.