Antwerp court rules banks must immediately reimburse phishing victims
The Antwerp court of summary proceedings has ruled that banks are obliged to compensate phishing victims immediately for their losses. According to experts, the ruling could set an important precedent for other victims of phishing and fraud.
At the end of last month, two phishing cases came before the Antwerp court of summary proceedings. In both cases, significant sums had been stolen. One case centred on an elderly couple who had been defrauded of just under 50,000 euros after transferring the money to a fraudster posing as a bank employee in Portugal.
Banks typically refuse to refund the money to victims of phishing. They argue that customers act with gross negligence by transferring the funds themselves to a fraudulent recipient. Argenta did so before the Antwerp court, claiming that the customers had been negligent, because they had authorised the transactions themselves by going through the security steps.
The judge disagreed, ruling that a presumption of negligence does not suspend the obligation to repay. Citing European case law, the court held that a financial institution must always refund phishing victims in the first instance. Only afterwards, if the bank believes the customer was grossly negligent, may it initiate proceedings to reclaim the money.
"A bank must, in fact, always reimburse the customer immediately for phishing"
"A bank must, in fact, always reimburse the customer immediately for phishing," a spokesperson for the Commercial Court said on Wednesday. "Only then can the bank assess whether the customer has been grossly negligent and, if necessary, seek to recover the loss." In this case, the court found that disclosing a PIN code would not have constituted gross negligence.
It remains unclear whether Argenta will appeal. As this is a ruling in summary proceedings, the repayment constitutes a temporary measure rather than a final judgment. Experts nonetheless note that the case could set an important precedent for other disputes involving phishing and fraud. The bank's lawyer was not immediately available for comment on Wednesday.
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