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Colaba resident and advocate Manoj Mirchandani received an SMS on his cellphone on November 1, saying: ‘The payment on your HSBC credit card is overdue. Please pay minimum due of Rs 6,66,67,070 in three days or call for pickup service.
Please ignore if already paid.’ Mirchandani was shocked, as he does not own an HSBC credit card and does not have a loan account in the bank.
Mirchandani, who is one of the board of directors of Radio Club in Colaba, tried calling the HSBC helpline.
Since the helpline number only connected him to their pre-recorded messages, he lodged a complaint with the Cuffe Parade police station the next day.
In his complaint, Mirchandani has also sought to know how the bank authorities sent him a message when he doesn’t have an account in the bank and how they got his cellphone number.
He has also requested the police to provide him with security cover in case the bank sends agents to recover the amount. “A reputed bank such as HSBC needs to check the credentials of customers before sending such SMSes,” said Mirchandani.
An HSBC official said, “Prima facie, it seems like the message might have gone by mistake. It is a normal procedure for the bank to send reminder SMSes to customers to clear their dues. As the customer does not have any account with the bank, he need not worry. We will conduct an internal investigation.”
K Unnikrishnan, deputy chief executive, Indian Bank Association, said, “There may have been a data entry error or the mobile number might have belonged to someone else before. The person needs to approach the bank personally to sort out the issue. He can even write to us.”
Sub-inspector Y D Warang of Cuffe Parade police station said, “The matter is being looked into.”
