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-   -   Fraud/Hoax call received under the preText of ICICI Credit Card (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shifting-gears/75046-fraud-hoax-call-received-under-pretext-icici-credit-card-3.html)

This can't be a joke. I have clearly mentioned in my prev post, when called back the same number, it was confirmed as ICICI number.
Also my brother doesn't have any friends/aquantinces nor he knows anyone from/in ICICI Bank

I called the number, enquired with 2 security persons(called around 2.30pm, all the CCE left for the day) and they mentioned it as ICICI, Bommanahalli Bangalore.
Apart from it, I called the Call center number mentioned in ICICI website. to get the details of the existence of credit card in my brother's name.
Hope things are quite clear now

Mods,
Kindly excuse for the double post

Note from the Team-BHP Support Team : Please use "Multi Quote" option for quoting Multiple posts, instead of creating another back-to-back post.

OOPS...You may need to double check..I don't think any bank will provide phone access to the numbers published publicly, to their security persons for picking up customer calls:eek: This will become a PR nightmare, to say the least. But if it is some agency hired by the bank, it is probable.

OR, is it that the security guys are making some fast buck on the side by providing access to free phone calls for some collection agents!

Something doesn't seem routine here. No call centre number is picked by security guards.

Please double check as sanjay says, before you approach the police/ombudsman/ICICI Bank with a complaint, without any definite evidence. That might backfire on you.

Seems like a bit confusion here.
Let me clarify,
I called the same number from which my brother received the call, the persons who took the call over there mentioned as ICICI (It might be agents for ICICI)

Another call was made to ICICI Bank Customer care number which is mentioned in the ICICI website.
Letz please stick to topic here.

Don't worry, this is a routine fraud and bank knows the process.

On Monday, go to ICICI branch, give them your side of story in written and get an acknowledgment.

Unfortunately it is going to a long time to resolve since Legal would be involved. There is nothing that customer service can do apart from stopping collection calls.

If a card on fraudulent papers has been issued and used against your brothers name then the call would have been from the recovery agent. They are authorized by the bank to do so and they call you saying they are from the said bank. There is nothing illegal about it. All you need to do is ask for a statement or a settlement letter to see if a card really exist.

Police will never register a case based on just a phone call with no evidence in your hand. If you received a call only once then that does not classify as a harassment in the eyes of the police.
Take it slowly and get some evidence in your hand first before you come to conclusion. If a card has already been issued then it make sense to lodge a FIR but not if you are not sure.

@Netfreak, I value your advise and other insights you have posted, but not able to get why this insistence on wasting one's valuable time by visiting the branch or filing an FIR at this stage, where no documentary proof is avlbl. More so, if the affected person is sure that he is not in the wrong, in the remotest way possible.

Regarding the CIBIL thing, yes, that is a possiblity, but even then, since the aggrieved party has already confirmed with ICICI Customer Care, it should not be a problem. If at all it turns out ICICI has submitted wrong credit info to CIBIL in future, there is case of financial compensation here.

I am not sure if any bank will give an acknowlegdement to any person walking in and handing over a complaint, just like that. What if they turn the tables, and claim, no such call was made, and even if it was made, no moentary claim was done over the call. What is the proof we are talking about here? They can simply blame sushrutha of defaming/trying to bring bad repute to ICICI!

Here is what I am anticipating would have happened:
- the call was recd from an agency which does collection/address/phone verification for multiple banks
- Since his brother has applied for a car loan, they must have some negative/defaulter database maintained at the agency level itself where the DOB/Mobile/Email/Name etc wrongly got matched/deduped..most probably a Ctrl+F search would have been done, given the level of sophistication these agenices have
- The guy doing the search promptly took it as a positive match, it is possible that the list may not have contained the full address of the defaulter or he did not bother to cross verifiy the same) and placed the call.

On the other hand, if sushrutha/his brother have tons of spare time on hand, would love to see from who/where exactly the call came.

@sushrutha, request you to pls keep us updated, in case any further information become avlbl. This will help everyone here in case some ingenuine new scam is evolving which we are still not able to figure out.

Concurrently, please immediately request CIBIL for a copy of the credit report and see if there's any hanky-panky going on. It takes about 2 weeks but is conclusive proof if it was a 'wrong number' being dialled!

Access Your CIBIL Credit Report

Ok, Since your brother has actually applied for a car loan it makes sense now. One of my team members had a defaulted standard charted card he had given my number as refrence during applying the card. I used to get a lot of calls on his behalf and finally i had to change my phone numbers, Later he relocated to a different city from north to south, Now he applied for some consumer loan and standard charted traced him and he had to pay up.

I feel there might be a wrong CIBIL entry against your brothers name, just wait and watch if SBI raises an objection against his loan approval. If that is the case ask them to furnish the exact reason for the approval issues and talk to the agent and get his complete CIBIL report, if anything wrong is found then this thread justifies the tittle and you can approach the consumer court.

Pramod

While the FIR may not be a neccessity at this stage I think there is a merit in the suggestion that he/his brother needs to start chasing ICICI proactively. Gone are the days when you could sit and wait for the other side to act first.

In this case ICICI purportedly has made a call and informed him of some dues which are questionable. It is better that the aggrieved party approaches the bank and clarifies the whole thing. It is also paramount that if the bank certifies what the CCE told him (that no such card exists) then he gets their written acknowledgement of the same. The acknowledgement should be so drafted that it leaves no room for ambiguity later. In other words it should capture the aggrieved persons identification details (Name, PAN, Address, DOB) with a clear line that such a person does not owe any dues to ICICI bank. A branch will not be willing to issue any such letter though. It will probably need more legwork.

Now lest you again ask why, let me clarify. Banks update CIBIL records and it involves minutest of details like period of default, amount etc. And you do not want a surprise tomorrow wherein ICICI puts in an adverse remark against you in CIBIL. There such arguments like some unknown CCE told you that you do not owe any dues does not work. Everything is proof based. So at a later date if you need to contest any such adverse remarks in your CIBIL records you need a hard proof from ICICI that it already absolved you of any responsibilities in this regard.

I know of at least one case where the person took this chalta hai attitude for months (let them come back and then I will see) till it reached such a gargantuan proportion (recovery threshold as someone called it) that it was not within the power of any single individual of the bank to waive off the issue. It landed up with the central legal cell of the bank (not ICICI) and led to hazaar problems. Ultimately the guy managed to get it sorted out by paying some 3500 bucks (against the original claim of over 65000 or so) but it was not a very nice experience for him.

P.S.: For huge banks like ICICI, it is all a part of another business day. They see so many such cases everyday that they hardly bother much. Someone somewhere would have been given the task of recovery (by mistake or otherwise, that you will have to prove). That person already made a call. For all that you know the person/dept may not make another attempt in the next 14-30 days and then again make another similar call. And if the said person/dept needs to make say 3 such attempts they will simply escalate it in a very careless manner along with 100s of other such as 'unrecoverable' and for further action after 3 such spaced out attempts. Whereas you will simply be sitting pretty thinking that either they themselves are not sure and hence not pressing on the matter or probably it has been given a quiet burial. It will only come back to bite you later when it will probably be too late. A regular story in all such cases. And that is why you need to be really proactive in such cases because unlike ICICI for whom it is just their regular business, for you it is your financial and credit record which is at stake and may harm you immensely in future unless sorted out in time.

There are two VERY important facts:

He called ICICI Customer Care. Customer care confirmed that :

1. Such a card exists
2. Card is in his brother's name
3. There is some default on card

His brother has already applied for a loan elsewhere

If recovery has reached a stage where bank pulled up actual contact details, it mans his default would already in pipeline to be reported at this month end.

Based on this fact, he needs to act now. Otherwise this default would stay in his profile for next seven years.

As of now, They(CCE) have harassed him by saying that, "Go, do whatever you want, you have to pay the amount at any cost".
So registered a compliant in P.S. stating that we have recevd an harassment call from so and so number, recvd acknowledgement.

Loan was applied just a day prior(saturday) to the day since he recvd the call, which was on sunday afternoon.
Will the loan process be that faster ??

Thanks, I'll note on this and let me see as what best can be done on this.

But, instead of waiting for SBI to raise a voice & get his loan disapproved, it's better to do the ground work done before hand and gets all the things sorted out ?

This is the only thing which can be done as of now I feel. Contact bank/ombudsman and get a relevant letter from ICICI.
Sure, will update once there are any changes in the process.
When did I confirm that, the Card exists in my brother's name.
I have clearly mentioned that, there doesn't exist any card, which matches my brother's DOB+Location.
Please refer my posts in the prev pages. I got this information from ICICI CCE by calling their number mentioned in website

Only the recovery CCE has mentioned the same what you are saying.

Why don't you ask them to send some persons to your place to collect the amount and then tackle them when they arrive?

This is what exactly police inspector told us when we had been to P.S to register a complaint.
He told us, " Next time you receive a call, tell them to send the person to collect the amount, once the person comes to your place, bring him to PS. We will look into it."
Ps is hardly 5 mins walk from my brother's place.

In fact it is opposite..ICICI CCE has confirmed that NO SUCH CARD EXISTS.

I am amazed that people are getting so worked up simply based on a phone call. No written document exists anywhere in this entire episode till now. I mean, going to PS or ICICI branch to register a complaint - BASED ON WHAT? A freak call? Just check out the PS reaction! The suggestion that banks would give a written ack that no card is issued to a person - What, is this RTI or what? Give me a break! If such a situation comes, I will start sending to all banks asking for written ack to confirm that I do not hold a card from them;-}

CIBIL etc is being quoted here! For God's Sake, if I am in Susrutha's position, with my records clean, I would actually love the fact that any bank would err and report me to CIBIL..I can then take up the fight and earn some compensation. CIBIL and Banking Ombudsman have a clearly defined, timebound policy for such matters.

I simply cannot reconcile to the fact that one has to go around in circles proving one's innocence, based on some collection call received on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Seems like some disgruntled employee iin a revenge mood.

Susrutha, were you able to confirm if the call came from an official ICICI branch or its agency?