Global: RBI working on database of scamsters to check bank frauds

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is working on a fraud registry that would help it keep repeat offenders at bay from the banking system.

“The fraud registry will capture information like IP (internet protocol) addresses and phone numbers repeatedly used to commit frauds,” Executive Director Anil Kumar Sharma said on August 29.

“A mechanism for these details would be created so that banks can report these details to us. That will help us prevent these fraudsters using the banking infrastructure for perpetrating fraud after fraud after fraud,” Sharma said.

The central banker said once the IP addresses and phone numbers, among other details, of fraudsters were identified, the RBI would try and get them blacklisted.

“We are working on this and are in talks with several agencies,” Sharma said, adding that various departments of the RBI as well as other stakeholders were being consulted on the same.

The RBI received 4.18 lakh complaints under its ombudsman schemes in 2021-22, up 9.4 percent from the previous financial year, according to data shared by Sharma. An ombudsman is an official dealing with public complaints made against regulated entities.

More than 40 percent of complaints received by the ombudsman every year relate to credit cards, debit or ATM cards, and mobile and internet banking. Around 10 percent of all complaints relate to incidents where an individual has tried to withdraw cash from an ATM, but found that while the money was debited from their account, cash was not dispensed by the machine.

In November 2021, the RBI streamlined its grievance redressal mechanism and rolled out the Integrated Ombudsman Scheme under a ‘One Nation One Ombudsman’ approach. The integrated ombudsman subsumed three separate schemes – one each for banks, non-bank finance companies, and digital transactions.

Under the integrated ombudsman, the turnaround time of complaints has dropped to 38 days, less than half of the 95 days it took in 2019-20.