Mumbai: A serious case of international credit card fraud has surfaced, with the honorary consul of Maldives filing a complaint in Mumbai. It is alleged that his foreign-issued credit card was misused to carry out a fraudulent transaction of ₹4.59 lakh in Jakarta, Indonesia. Notably, the incident occurred while he was on a Delhi-Mumbai flight, indicating a cross-border cyber fraud operation.
According to the complainant, the incident took place in October 2025, when his wife received an email alert regarding the transaction. She immediately informed the bank and requested that the transaction be blocked and the card deactivated. Upon landing in Mumbai, the consul personally contacted the bank, confirmed that the transaction was unauthorized, and urged immediate action. However, despite timely notification, the bank allegedly failed to take prompt steps.
Alerts Raised, But No Immediate Action
The complaint further states that the bank neither blocked the transaction in time nor flagged it as suspicious. Instead, finance charges and penalties were later imposed on the disputed amount, adversely affecting the complainant’s CIBIL score. He has accused the bank of negligence and violation of consumer rights.
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Investigation Expands to Banking Practices
Based on the complaint, Juhu police have registered a case against an unknown person under charges of cheating, forgery, identity theft, and impersonation under the IT Act. The case has been handed over to the cyber team, which is collecting detailed information from the bank to understand why the transaction was not flagged in time.
During the investigation, police may also question concerned bank staff, as the complainant has suspected possible internal involvement in the leak of his card data. He has argued that processing a high-value international transaction without proper verification reflects a serious lapse and possible collusion cannot be ruled out.
Partial Refund and Ongoing Dispute
The complainant also revealed that after repeated correspondence and complaints, the bank reversed ₹2.29 lakh—about 50% of the total amount—after nearly 40 days. According to him, this amounts to an indirect acknowledgment of fraud. However, the remaining amount is still under dispute.
He has also approached the Reserve Bank of India’s Ombudsman and the RBI Governor, but claims no satisfactory resolution has been provided so far. He further alleged that the bank attempted to shift liability onto him and even threatened to damage his credit report in case of non-payment.
Experts believe that such frauds typically occur through data breaches, phishing attacks, or card skimming. Tracking and preventing international fraudulent transactions remains a challenge, but robust fraud detection mechanisms within banking systems are essential.
Investigative agencies are now probing the matter in depth, examining how the transaction was executed, where the data was compromised, and who all may be involved. More revelations are expected in the coming days, which could expose a larger international cyber fraud network.
