Justice is set from a victim of cyber scam and orders BBVA to return 4,902 euros to an affected client for one of these scams. The judicial resolution, issued by the Court of First Instance number 7 of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, indicates that the bank did not have sufficient security measures to prevent this type of fraud.
According to the General Council of Spanish Lawyers, which has published the information related to this ruling, which is not yet final, BBVA tried to distance itself from responsibility by arguing that it carries out awareness campaigns to warn its clients about risks associated with telematic fraud.
The victim was deceived by cybercriminals with what is known as phishing, a technique that the National Police has warned about on many occasions and which serves to steal data or money from users. As explained by the Law Office, the sentence details that the client received an SMS that pretended to be an official communication from the bank.
Said message It contained a link that redirected you to a fraudulent page where you had to enter your data. Once inside, and unable to complete the process, the scammers contacted her by telephone, posing as a BBVA employee, convincing her to make two transfers to a fake account.
The court considers that BBVA’s actions were insufficient and has to return almost 5,000 euros to the victim
However, the magistrates considered that these actions are insufficient compared to the bank’s obligations as an “expert merchant,” according to Paloma González Llorente, lawyer at Sello Legal Abogados. For the lawyer, The bank’s responsibility is not that of “a good family man,” but that of an expert in managing its clients’ money.
They consider that BBVA, as a financial entity, must guarantee security systems that are up to the task of current technological threats and they add that before a “impersonation of the identity of the financial institution, it must assume financial responsibility and increase specific security measures, and not merely informational ones, at the level of the means of payment it offers.”
The lawyer explains to the General Council of Lawyers that the “client does not have to be continually suspicious every time a communication reaches you and much less when the scam is as well constructed as this one”. He also adds that we must focus “on the fact that the bank’s obligation is to have 100% secure online banking,”
Experts explain that this sentence is not yet final, so it is recommended that If you are affected by fraud of this type, first go to the authorities to report the facts. before filing a civil claim.