A credit card charge of 299 is now 22,00,000

A friend recently brought this up to me and I am not sure what’s the right answer. So bringing it to this wise group.

This friend was recently contacted by Reliance Asset Reconstruction stating that he owes them 22 Lakhs. On further enquiring they sent some statements to him which indicate the following:

1) It seems he made a credit card transaction of Rs 299 sometime in 2007. He cant recall this transaction or even owning a credit card even but can’t be sure since he used to work at a bank at that time and it was regular for credit card agents to approach them and try and convince them to take cards. 2) This charge along with interest is now 22 Lakhs 3) This has been noted in the Credit Reports. (This was validated by checking the credit report which is impacted badly. Not discovered earlier since he doesn’t use a credit card and never taken a loan)

He is wondering the following: 1) Is it reasonable to ask for such an amount for such a small transaction, even if correct 2) Why did it take them all this while to reach out and ask for it 3) Finally, and most importantly, what is the best course of action in this situation.

Edit 1: Largely we received very supportive responses on this. My friend has been following this thread very closely and is very thankful for the encouraging responses. For those who are questioning the calculations, I wish we could publish the statements received. We will, but just not yet. We are meeting this weekend to discuss next steps.

We will keep you all updated here and here https://x.com/vvikipedia09/status/1884574929451925823?s=61&t=5FsfVLCZHz2ghr0gAn-KXQ