In a significant ruling on June 29, 2026, the SPSR Nellore District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission the State Bank of India (SBI) and its credit card division to stop recovery proceedings of credit card dues of around `49,500, write off the disputed amount, and restore the complainant’s CIBIL score.
The commission’s ruling came after finding deficiency in service in handling a cyber-fraud complaint.
The case had been filed by Giddaluru Uma Sankera Rao, a 50-year-old resident of Kavali, who had obtained an SBI credit card in June 2025. On September 16, 2025, he received a phone call from a person posing as an SBI Credit Card official. The caller claimed Sankera Rao’s credit card had been blocked and persuaded him to share his card details.
The following day, September 17, 2025, the fraudster allegedly hacked Sankera Rao’s mobile phone during a WhatsApp video call, resulting in two unauthorised transactions totalling `49,502.34 being transferred to MobiKwik.
The complainant immediately alerted the SBI branch at Kavali and blocked the card. As the cybercrime portal had allegedly not been unavailable initially, Sankera Rao lodged a cybercrime complaint on September 19, 2025, besides submitting a credit card dispute form.
Sankera Rao later visited the SBI Credit Card office in Nellore on November 25, 2025, and sent written representations to SBI on December 22, 2025. He claimed no effective action had been taken.
Instead, Sankera Rao received recovery notices, including a legal notice on January 9, 2026. The recovery calls continued despite informing SBI about the cyber fraud. Sankera Rao alleged that the recovery personnel asked him to settle the dues for `35,000 during a meeting on February 12, 2026.
In its ruling, the Nellore consumer commission observed that although the complainant had been negligent in sharing his confidential card details with a stranger, SBI and its credit card division failed to conduct or produce evidence of any investigation after being promptly informed of the fraud. Further, the bank remained absent during the consumer forum proceedings.
Holding SBI guilty of deficiency in service, the commission ordered the bank to treat the disputed transactions as fraudulent, reverse the liability within 45 days, withdraw all recovery proceedings, and remove any adverse entries from the complainant’s CIBIL records. It awarded `5,000 as compensation for mental agony and `3,000 towards litigation costs.
However, the commission rejected the complainant’s claim for `20 lakh compensation, citing his contributory negligence in disclosing his card details.
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