according to the judge, he did not adopt adequate security measures

The proliferation of online fraud increasingly affects those most vulnerable in the face of the growing complexity of new technologies, such as the elderly, whom many banking entities often They don’t offer any other option. You have to learn to deal with ATMs and mobile apps, or not be able to use your savings.

In this context, a court in Vigo has just issued a historic ruling that could set a significant precedent for future similar cases. Abanca, one of the main Spanish banks, has been ordered to compensate with 30,600 euros (plus interest) to two retirees who were victims of a sophisticated ‘phishing’ scam.

The events date back to December 2021, when someone made, from the bank accounts of two retirees from Vigo, various transfers to “multiple destinations abroad”… suffering, in total, a loss of the aforementioned 30,600 euros.

According to the ruling issued by the Court of First Instance No. 3 of Vigo, these movements had no relationship with the account holders, and were carried out without their knowledge or consent through the bank’s online platform.

Phishing is a scam technique in which cybercriminals impersonate companies or authority figures to obtain victims’ personal and financial information. In this case, the scammers posed as a senior Abanca official and asked the retirees for their credentials. and banking passwords, a strategy that was unfortunately successful.

The responsibility of the banks

The ruling issued by the Vigo judge not only forces Abanca to reimburse the defrauded amount, but also establishes that the bank must take more rigorous measures in terms of cybersecurity. The magistrate argues that The financial institution did not adopt “any protection measure, neither general nor specific, that was effective” to prevent this type of fraud.

Furthermore, it is based on several previous rulings of the Sixth Section of the Pontevedra Court to highlight that Payment service providers have the responsibility to implement protective measures that minimize the probability of unauthorized operations.

The bank, for its part, has defended that the retirees voluntarily made the movements, but the court has made it clear that they were “involuntary” victims and “simple passive subjects” of the scam perpetrated by unknown third parties.

The ruling is not final, since the bank still has the option of filing an appeal before the Provincial Court, but it is relevant because judges begin to set criteria regarding the responsibility (or not) of the victims of banking cyber scams.

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