HDFC Bank customer receives multiple OTPs to execute 'fraud' transactions in different currencies; data leak?

At a time when the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has upped the ante against existing flaws in the online banking systems of several Indian banks, a case has come to light wherein a Delhi-based customer of HDFC Bank witnessed several attempts of illicit monetary transactions in multiple currencies.

The customer - name withheld - shared the screenshots of the purported transactions with ET NOW Digital. According to the individual, she received several OTPs on her registered mobile number to execute transactions in different currencies over a span of a few days. Screenshots of at least three such transaction attempts were shared with ET NOW Digital.

For instance, in the first transaction, the potential scammers tried to carry out a transaction of (New Taiwan Dollar) TWD 1490 at one 'Taiwan High'. The second purported transaction was for EUR 5 at one place named Chat.Versai. Another OTP was shared for carrying out a transaction worth (Chinese Yuan) CNY 50.

'Will review and revert' - HDFC Bank spokesperson; detailed response awaited

"(There seems to be an) HDFC data leak. Multiple attempts of fraud in different currencies (sic)," the complainant told ET NOW Digital. When ET NOW Digital reached out to HDFC Bank seeking a response, an HDFC Bank spokesperson sought time to review the matter. "Pls allow us time to review and revert," the spokesperson said. A detailed response from the company is awaited.

The incident comes months after several reports claimed that the confidential data of around six lakh customers of HDFC Bank’s non-banking financial services (NBFC) arm - HDB Financial Services was leaked online. HDFC Bank had, however, denied the reports and said that there was 'no data leak' in HDFC Bank systems.

"Hi, we wish to state that there is no data leak at HDFC Bank and our systems have not been breached or accessed in any unauthorised manner. We remain confident of our systems. However we treat the matter of our customer data security with utmost seriousness and we continue to (sic)," HDFC Bank had said on March 7 in a post on its X handle.