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Susana Zamora
Malaga
Saturday, 21 September 2024, 08:28
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She received an SMS pretending to be from her bank and, just a few minutes later, a phone call from a supposed employee of the financial institution. Falling for the deception, the woman provided confidential information that allowed the fraudsters to make a transfer of 7,500 euros and a purchase of 1,999 euros. After unsuccessfully complaining to the bank, the scammed victim decided earlier this year to take the case to court in Spain.
Judgement has now been passed and the ruling has been issued by the court in Barcelona. It has ordered the bank to compensate this victim of phishing to the tune of the 9,499 euros she had lost plus accrued interest. In addition, the judgement obliged the bank to pay the plaintiff's legal costs.
Phishing is a technique used by cybercriminals to obtain sensitive information such as passwords, credit card numbers and other personal information from users. It can also be used to install malicious software, malware, on user devices. To do so, scammers circulate fraudulent emails that usually impersonate the identity of recognised companies and organisations. Then they use whatever means of persuasion possible to get the user to access the link provided in the message itself or to download a malicious file.
In other words, these cybercriminals send out messages impersonating a legitimate entity such as a bank, a social media network, a service or a public authority in order to trick and manipulate people into taking an action that puts their data at risk. That is what happened in this case.
However, the court found that the bank in question had failed to implement the necessary security measures, such as strong authentication methods, to prevent such a fraud taking place. This negligence, together with the bank's obligation to prove that the transactions were authorised correctly, has led to the ruling in favour of the customer, thereby condemning the bank to refund the amount stolen.
"We believe that this ruling sets a crucial precedent in the protection of consumers against electronic fraud," said the legal team at Unive Abogados. The firm of legal experts believes that this ruling also reinforces the responsibility of banks to guarantee the security of their customers through more "robust" mechanisms of authentication.
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