A client of Oschadbank noticed a withdrawal of 59,500 UAH while checking their accounts. Did the court return the funds?

A man using the "Oschad24" mobile application decided to check his account balances. He noticed a disappearance of funds totaling 59,500 hryvnias from his Oschadbank card, which he requests to be returned. This information is outlined in the decision of the Bohunskyi District Court of Zhytomyr, published on November 28, 2024.

On August 23, 2023, in order to verify the remaining funds in accounts opened at JSC "Oschadbank", the man utilized the "Oschad24" mobile application. Following this, he received several phone calls from individuals who claimed to be bank employees and offered to assist with authorization. To log back into the mobile application, he was prompted to enter his mobile phone number and the associated access password. On the same day, he discovered that funds had been transferred from his card account to another account, totaling 59,500 hryvnias. On August 24, 2023, he visited the bank branch to inquire about the individuals to whom the funds were transferred and their whereabouts. He was denied this information. On August 25, 2024, the citizen reported a criminal offense, as defined by Article 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, to the police.

"To register in the remote banking system 'Oschad24/7', it is necessary to use the client's phone number linked to the card (financial number), receive a call from the bank with a code, provide the last four digits of the card number, and the PIN code associated with it. Subsequently, the client sets a login and password for the mobile application known only to him, creates a quick access code, and can configure biometric identification on the mobile device using a fingerprint or facial recognition. In this case, subsequent entries into the application and payments are made without confirmation via password or SMS code. The execution of fund transfer operations was confirmed by the plaintiff's biometric data or access code. Access to the remote banking system and fund transfer operations were carried out correctly, which is only possible with the bank card details and SMS passwords," - stated Oschadbank.

What did the court decide?

The court granted the man's claim. The Joint Stock Company "State Savings Bank of Ukraine" is ordered to pay him an amount of 59,500 hryvnias.

"The court concludes that the plaintiff demonstrated appropriate proactive actions and warnings under the relevant circumstances, while the defendant failed to prove that the plaintiff, as a card user, contributed to the access to his card account or provided information to third parties that would allow the initiation of payment transactions. Given the above, the court orders the defendant to pay the total amount of 59,500 hryvnias, as it was transferred from the plaintiff's account without justification," - emphasized the court.