Bengaluru doctor slams HDFC over repeated spam calls for loans. Bank responds

Dr Sundar Sankaran said he had earlier notified the bank about this problem with telecallers but the spam calls continued. (Image credit: @sundar_s1955/X)

A senior doctor based in Bengaluru has hit out at HDFC after being flooded with spam calls from telecallers offering loans from the bank. Dr Sundar Sankaran, program director at Aster Institute of Renal Transplantation, said that he tried blocking some of the numbers but the calls continued from several other numbers. He also said that after being tired of such spam calls, when he told off a loan requirement caller, another person who claimed to be the telecaller's manager called him up, demanding to know why the doctor was "rude".

"HDFC loan requirement callers have become a nuisance and if you get angry with them you are pestered with more calls despite blocking," Dr Sankaran wrote on X. "Today after one caller got fired by me another caller claiming to be manager HDFC wanted to know why I was rude looked like spam calls but HDFC has to act and investigate."

HDFC loan requirement callers have become a nuisance and if you get angry with them you are pestered with more calls despite blocking
Today after one caller got fired by me another caller claiming to be manager HDFC wanted to know why I was rude looked like spam calls but HDFC…

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— Sundar Sankaran (@sundar_s1955) March 30, 2024

Speaking to Moneycontrol, Dr Sankaran said, "This is very troublesome when we are checking patients who are sick. People may say ignore the unknown callers but many times it's a desperate patients trying to reach me for help and I can't afford to keep my phone in silence."

The doctor also shared a list of phone numbers from where he had been receiving the spam calls and tagged HDFC and its customer support team's handles, prompting a reaction from the bank. "Hi Sundar, sorry to hear about your experience. Please DM us the caller details and your contact number on which the call was received for better assistance," an HDFC customer service representative, Ajay, commented.

Dr Sankaran, however, pointed out that he had earlier notified the bank about this problem with telecallers but the spam calls continued. In a screenshot shared by the doctor, the HDFC bank representative wrote, "As a corporate entity, our bank is compliant with all directives, regulations, and laws of the land and we have set in place stringent controls over telemarketing activities. However, it is beyond the scope of our control or authority to identify such freelance agents and bring charges on them. Only the affected parties have the right to take up the matter by lodging a complaint to their telecom service provider so that the matter can be taken up as per provisions of law."

The doctor's predicament, however, touched a chord with other X users.

"They never stop completely, though after post of today they might halt in for few days. They never take action," wrote Doctor Arif Khan Kashmir (@KashmirDrarif).

In a survey released in February, around 90 per cent of people surveyed stated that they are getting pesky calls from individuals selling financial services, real estate projects and other products despite being registered on the Do Not Disturb list. A vast majority of respondents surveyed have shared that they get spam calls every day and most of the calls are from individuals selling financial services and real estate products and services, according to the survey.