MUMBAI: Honorary consul for Maldives in Mumbai, Bobby Mohanty (57), filed a complaint with the Juhu police on Wednesday alleging that cyber fraudsters used a credit card he held, issued by a foreign bank, to carry out a fund transfer of Rs 4.59 lakh in Jakarta in Oct 2025.Mohanty alleged that despite timely alerts and complaints to the bank, no action was initiated. He further alleged that the bank harassed him with finance charges and penalties for transactions not executed, which he said tarnished his CIBIL score credentials.Juhu police registered an FIR against an unknown person based on Mohanty’s complaint. Mohanty has asked police to interrogate bank staff whose role he suspected in his card data being compromised.The fraud occurred in Indonesia when Mohanty was on board a Delhi-Mumbai flight. “The transaction was immediately reported to the bank by my wife, Sanghamitra Mohanty, upon receipt of the email alert, and subsequently reconfirmed by me upon landing at Mumbai airport, with clear instructions to block the transaction,” Mohanty said.The bank failed to act, he said. “Despite timely reporting and the suspicious nature of a high-value international transaction, the bank failed to verify, flag, or halt the transaction,” Mohanty told TOI.A Juhu police officer said police have filed a case for cheating and forgery and under the IT Act for identity theft and impersonation against an unknown person. The cyber team will summon bank staff to get more details. “Mohanty has submitted the flight ticket which he used in Oct to fly to Delhi along with the complaints he has submitted to the RBI ombudsman. The cyber team is gathering details from the bank to find out why they did not flag off the transactions when complaints were made and they were asked to block them,” the officer said.Mohanty said after repeated correspondence with the bank, it reversed 50% of the transaction amounting to Rs 2.29 lakh about 40 days after the incident, which he said was an admission of fraud. “Possibility of internal involvement and collusion of employees with external fraudsters cannot be ruled out and warrants an independent investigation,” he said.“Correspondence has been made with the RBI ombudsman and the RBI Governor, but in vain. The bank has wrongfully fastened liability on the cardholder, including levying charges on the disputed amount and issuing threats of adverse reporting to CIBIL for non-payment,” he said.
