A woman lost 51,000 hryvnias, which Oschadbank refuses to return. What was the court's decision?

A woman lost 51,000 hryvnias from her account. She accuses Oschadbank of inadequate protection and safeguarding of her funds, which she demands to be returned, but her request was denied. This is stated in the decision of the Ratne District Court of Volyn Oblast, published on January 13, 2024.

On April 18, 2024, an unknown individual, using electronic computing technology, gained access to the woman’s funds from her card account amounting to 51,000 hryvnias. She reported the incident to the local police, and based on her statement, a criminal case was registered under Part 4 of Article 190 (fraud) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The citizen believes that since the funds were withdrawn without her consent, Oschadbank failed to provide proper protection and security for her funds, and therefore is obligated to return the money.

"The disputed transactions were carried out in the Oschad 24/7 mobile application (the new version of Flumo), where the confirmation of actions was conducted using biometric data or a code set during the initial login or in the security settings. To register in the Oschad 24/7 mobile application, payment card details, expiration date, and CVV2/CVC2 code are used; registration confirmation is done with a code that the bank sends to the client's financial number. Such information is known only to the client, and a third party can only be aware of these details if the client (the cardholder) discloses them. On April 18, 2024, an outgoing automated IVR call was made to the plaintiff's financial number to confirm registration in the Oschad 24/7 system, which was successfully accepted. To confirm registration and receive a one-time password, the client was required to press the number 1 on the phone's keypad, which the client did. On the same day, the registration of the salary payment card in the Oschad 24/7 mobile application was successfully completed. On April 18, 2024, a transfer of 5,390 hryvnias was made from the plaintiff's salary card to her credit card, along with two transfers of 21,200 hryvnias and 29,800 hryvnias from the plaintiff's credit card to another bank's card. On April 18, 2024, incoming calls were registered from the plaintiff regarding a notification from the bank about an increase in the credit limit and the withdrawal of funds from the card without her knowledge. The bank operator blocked the plaintiff's salary and credit cards due to fraud, recorded the refusal of transactions made on April 18, 2024, and closed and blocked the Oschad 24/7 account and token. The bank has no grounds for reimbursement since the withdrawal of funds occurred due to the plaintiff's fault, hence she is responsible for conducting payment operations," - noted Oschadbank.

What did the court decide?

The court granted the woman's claim. The joint-stock company "State Oschadbank of Ukraine" was ordered to return her funds in the amount of 51,000 hryvnias, withdrawn on April 18, 2024, due to improper payment operations from the card account of JSC "Oschadbank."

"From the evidence examined, the court established that the plaintiff, upon discovering the unjustified withdrawal of funds, promptly informed the bank of this fact and filed a police report about the commission of a criminal offense. However, the defendant did not prove that the plaintiff's actions or inactions contributed to the loss of personal and illegal numbers (codes) or other information that would allow initiating payment operations on the credit card. The court, based on the content of the claims and acting solely within their limits, concluded that the bank is obliged to return her funds in the amount of 51,000 hryvnias unjustly withdrawn on April 18, 2024, due to improper payment operations," - emphasized the court.