Chennai: Petrol bunks across Tamil Nadu are facing a fresh crisis. Customers who pay by card or UPI are filing false complaints with banks, claiming they did not make the transaction. Without verifying the claims, banks are forwarding cases to cybercrime police, who freeze the dealers’ current accounts used for daily operations.
Dealers said it typically takes seven to ten days and multiple rounds to banks and police stations to get accounts unfrozen. As these accounts are the sole operational link for most petrol bunks, freezing them disrupts procurement, supply chains, and daily operations.
In some cases, dealers said their accounts are blocked even when flagged customers simply use their POS machines. “These are third or fourth-level transactions, yet our accounts are frozen without fault,” said B Gowtham, a dealer from south Tamil Nadu.
Pointing to the larger concern, they said they already absorb card transaction charges, leaving thin margins on digital sales. “Since demonetisation, we were asked to promote digital payments. Today, almost every second transaction is digital. But if cybercrime police freeze accounts without proper checks, we will be forced to move customers to cash, which is inconvenient for them,” said Gowtham.
The Tamil Nadu Petroleum Dealers Association (TNPDA) said that such cases have become rampant in Pune and Nagpur, where fuel movement averages 600 kilolitres/month far above the national average of 140 kilolitres. Maharashtra dealers there have already announced strikes. In Tamil Nadu, two to three cases are reported every month, said KP Murali, president of TNPDA. “We are planning to raise this with the Union home ministry to push for a Standard Operating Procedure, which is missing today,” he said.
Responding to the concerns, a senior Tamil Nadu cybercrime police officer said early freezing is necessary to recover money. “For UPI, the recovery window is just one to two hours; for card transactions, two to four hours. Every second matters,” he said.