Bhubaneswar: The state crime branch on Thursday issued an advisory for the public and police regarding bank frauds taking place without knowledge of the customers.

It asked the customers to report the matter to the concerned banks at the earliest possible. The crime branch also asked the district polices to sensitise people about the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guideline, which makes banks to credit or reverse the unauthorised electronic transaction to the customer's account within 10 working days from the date of notification by the customer.

Additional director-general of police (crime branch) Santosh Kumar Upadhyay said most of the customers were unaware of the RBI provision. "Most of the victims of such frauds seek police help instead of reporting the matter to the banks. Officials at the police station must be sensitised about the RBI provisions, under which the banks should credit the unauthorised electronic transaction to the customer's account," said Upadhyay.

According to official statistics, the police had registered 265 ATM frauds, 27 credit card frauds and 19 bank fraud cases in 2017 in the state. "According to the RBI guideline, if the fraud takes place because of the banks' negligence such as compromise in customer details and involvement of bank insiders in fraudulent activities, the customers are entitled to get back the money. But, the customers need to inform the bank immediately," said a police official.

The police further said the RBI guidelines also mentioned that wrongful debit caused due to negligence of the customers should also be reported to the banks.

"If the victim has passed the PIN or password and someone used it without his knowledge, the victim must inform the bank. Any loss occurring after reporting of the unauthorised transaction will be borne by the bank," he said.

The police also advised not to share the details of ATM with anyone over telephone.

"Often the frauds ask for ATM details over telephone on the pretext of rectifying problems in bank accounts. We urge the people not to disclose any details of ATM or bank account with anyone," he said.