A woman lost 46,636 hryvnias from her bank account after a call from Kyivstar. Did the court manage to recover the funds?

A woman received a call from purported employees of Kyivstar, followed certain instructions, and later discovered a loss of 46,636 hryvnias from her card. She is demanding that the financial institution return the funds. This is stated in the decision of the Dniprovskiy District Court of Dniprodzerzhynsk (the official name of the court), published on February 21, 2025.

On November 25, 2022, the woman was contacted by unknown individuals who claimed to be employees of the "Kyivstar" company, notifying her that her mobile number would no longer work and that she needed to replace her SIM card by dialing a specific combination of numbers. After entering the given combination, she was informed that her card would temporarily be inactive, and her number was subsequently disabled. On November 26, 2022, she visited the "Kyivstar" office, where she was issued a new card with a number. In the "Privat-24" mobile application, the citizen noticed that only 34 hryvnias remained on her credit card and realized she had fallen victim to fraud as 46,636 hryvnias had been withdrawn from her card.

At a PrivatBank branch, the woman obtained a statement of transactions for her "Universal" card, which revealed that unknown individuals had opened two additional cards in her name and obtained consumer loans of 29,999 hryvnias and 9,999 hryvnias. She filed a report with the police, which initiated a criminal case. Based on the above, the citizen requests the court to compel JSC "PrivatBank" to restore the balance on her card account amounting to 46,636 hryvnias. She seeks to declare the "Installment Payment" agreement, made between her and the bank for 29,999 hryvnias, invalid, as well as the agreement for 9,999 hryvnias, and to cease any deductions from her for repayment of the specified loan.

A representative of PrivatBank submitted a response to the lawsuit, requesting a complete dismissal of the claims. He explained that the woman personally provided unknown individuals with not only her confidential information but also voluntarily allowed them to access her financial number through the card reissue.

"The bank conducted an internal investigation which established that due to the plaintiff's own actions/inactions, she voluntarily granted third parties unrestricted access to her PrivatBank cards in the "Privat-24" system, which she confirmed during a conversation with the bank operator, as well as regarding actions related to transferring access to her financial phone to third parties," – is stated in the case materials.

What did the court decide?

The court denied the woman’s claims. She contributed to the loss/illegal use of her personal information, specifically by personally providing outsiders with her card number, CVV code, and financial phone number, thereby completing all necessary actions to open a new card, which allowed for the initiation of payment transactions.

"On 25.11.2022, the plaintiff's actions contributed to the loss/illegal use of her personal information, particularly by independently providing outsiders with her card number, CVV code, and financial phone number, and consequently taking all necessary steps to open a new card, which enabled the initiation of payment transactions, particularly the disputed transactions, as well as the issuance of two "Installment Payment" loan agreements. Therefore, JSC "PrivatBank" should not be held liable for these operations. The existence of a criminal case does not imply, considering the presumption of innocence, the commission of a crime against the plaintiff until a verdict is reached, which may establish such circumstances, nor can it serve as grounds for relieving the plaintiff from the obligation to properly fulfill their obligations and comply with the terms and rules for providing banking services in the event of certain circumstances stipulated by them. Furthermore, the plaintiff notified the bank after the transactions were made on the account, thus the risk of losses from the transactions and responsibility lies with the user, indicating no grounds for satisfying the claims to restore the balance of 46,671 hryvnias on her personal account/card. Given the established facts of the case, there are no grounds to satisfy the claims regarding the invalidation of the "Installment Payment" loan agreements dated 25.11.2022 for 29,999 hryvnias and 9,999 hryvnias, as well as to cease any deductions from her for debt repayment. Analyzing the above, evaluating the relevance, admissibility, and reliability of the evidence in their entirety, the court concludes that the lawsuit should be denied in full," the court emphasized.