Many people do not know that they can ask their banker to be reimbursed. Justice is even on their side!
Most victims of scams are often unaware of the options available to try to recover their money. Whether it is a fraudulent online payment or a false ad, many do not know that they can, for example, dispute a transaction with their bank or file an online complaint on the Cybermalveillance platform. gouv.fr. In general, not knowing your rights slows down the process and works in favor of scammers. Among the possible remedies, one of them could be of great help to many victims. This applies in particular to victims of the fake advisor scam.
Having heard about it, you probably know the technique used. The criminals contact their victims by telephone pretending to be an employee of their bank, claiming suspicious activity on their account. They then manipulate their targets to obtain confidential information or encourage them to make transfers to a supposedly secure account, which actually belongs to the scammers. A real scourge, especially when we know that in 2023, this type of scam represented 379 million euros, according to figures from the Banque de France.
Faced with this scam, victims can unexpectedly obtain a refund from their bank. One of the journalists from the specialized magazine 60 Million consumers (No. 608, December 2024) investigated this recourse, sometimes ignored by banking establishments, which often cite “gross negligence” on the part of the victim. However, for this to be admissible, the bank must prove it, which is not always easy.
If the victim has kept all the evidence of the scam (bank telephone number used, messages or emails received, bank transfer order, payment record) and has filed a complaint at a police station or gendarmerie , there is no reason why immediate reimbursement should be refused. Court decisions in France also show that the law is on the side of the victims.
As our colleague explains, there is a reference to use: article L133-18 of the Monetary and Financial Code. “In the event of an unauthorized payment transaction reported by the user under the conditions provided for in Article L. 133-24, the payer’s payment service provider reimburses the payer the amount of the unauthorized transaction immediately after having become aware of the operation or after having been informed of it, and in any event no later than the end of the first following working day”indicates the law. Unless once again if the customer is negligent.