A woman lost 50,510 hryvnias from her PrivatBank account and is seeking their return. What was the court's decision?

The woman received a notification about a transfer of funds from her PrivatBank card. She attempted to block her account, but a total of 50,510 hryvnias was deducted without her consent. This was stated in the ruling of the Nedryhayliv District Court of Sumy Oblast, published on January 2, 2025.

On July 12, 2023, she received a message on her phone regarding a transfer of funds from her entitled card amounting to 26,012 hryvnias. She called the hotline of JSC "PrivatBank" and reported an unauthorized withdrawal of funds from her card, requesting immediate blocking. The hotline operator advised her to call back in 15-20 minutes. However, after that, the client was unable to reach the operator again, but she managed to take a screenshot of her phone screen with the notification of the withdrawal of 26,012 hryvnias. Subsequently, her card was blocked, and the "Privat-24" application was disabled, making her phone number no longer financial and preventing her from conducting any online communications with the bank. On July 13, 2023, the citizen visited the branch of JSC "PrivatBank," where she requested a "Statement for the card/account for July 12, 2023." It was established from the information provided by the bank that on July 12, 2024, unauthorized deductions of credit funds from the "Universal Gold" card occurred without her consent, amounting to 50,510 hryvnias and a commission of 1,529 hryvnias for the withdrawal.

The citizen filed a complaint with law enforcement about the commission of a criminal offense. On this matter, on July 13, 2023, information was entered into the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations (URPTI) regarding the signs of a criminal offense under Part 4 of Article 185 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

What did the court decide?

The court partially satisfied the woman's claim. The joint-stock company commercial bank "PrivatBank" was ordered to restore the credit limit on her card account to 64,000 hryvnias, return the funds totaling 52,039 hryvnias by crediting them back to her card account, cancel the interest, penalties (fines) accrued for using the funds on the card account, which arose as a result of the invalid transaction of transferring 52,039 hryvnias on July 12, 2023, and to compensate her with 20,000 hryvnias for moral damages.

"The defendant did not provide any evidence that undeniably confirmed that the plaintiff's actions or inactions contributed to the loss, illegal use of the PIN code, or other personal information that would have allowed the initiation of payment transactions," the court emphasized.