BNP Paribas ordered to reimburse almost 55,000 euros in favor of a customer who was the victim of a telephone scam

A bank required to compensate its customer who is the victim of a scam. The Court of Cassation on Wednesday ordered BNP Paribas to reimburse a client who had been tricked on the telephone by a fake banking advisor, finding that the client had not committed serious negligence.

The Court of Cassation rejected the bank’s appeal and ordered it to reimburse the sum of 54,500 euros as well as to pay 3,000 euros to the customer, the victim of “telephone spoofing”, it indicates in its decision.

Several fraudulent transfers

The BNP Paribas client noted in 2019 “that several fraudulent transfers had been made for an amount of 54,500 euros to his account”, he then “alerted the bank the same day, claiming to have been contacted by telephone by a person posing as an employee of the establishment asking her to add, using her personal security data, five people to the list of recipients of transfers.

The call number which appeared on the mobile phone of the victim of the scam “was displayed as being that of (…) his BNP advisor” and the customer therefore believed “to be in contact with an employee of the bank “. “The operating mode through the use of spoofing put the complainant at ease and reduced his vigilance,” the court of appeal indicated.

“We take note of the decision of the Court of Cassation concerning the specific situation encountered by this client in 2019 and which we will analyze,” reacted BNP Paribas.

Reinforced devices

“In recent years, banks have continued to strengthen their measures to combat fraud and are increasing awareness campaigns aimed at their customers. In these situations, it is important to remember that banks also suffer from the fraudulent use of telephone numbers assigned to them and over which they have no control,” she added.

The bank also recalls applying the “recommendations on the reimbursement of victims of fraud” formulated in 2023 by the Observatory for the security of means of payment.

In 2023, the damage from all means of payment fraud represented nearly 1.2 billion euros, of which 379 million euros were linked to user manipulation, such as fake bank advisor fraud, according to the Payment Means Security Observatory.

Banks “quickly reimburse in 8 to 9 cases out of 10” people who report fraud with their means of payment, according to the general director of the French Banking Federation (FBF), Maya Atig. However, the bank does not make a reimbursement if it considers that there has been serious negligence on the part of the injured person.