The bank advised that the fraudulent transactions were made via the bank’s app suite, hence the bank could show that the complainant’s confidential access credentials were compromised. Some of the funds were transferred from the complainant’s bank to a beneficiary bank. The beneficiary bank was able to recover R8 357.55, which amount was refunded to the complainant.
The facts showed that the complainant reported the fraud to his bank on 26 March 2017. The complainant’s bank advised that it became aware of the incident on 27 March 2017, and only alerted the beneficiary bank on 29 March 2017.
The OBS found that although the complainant’s confidential banking credentials were compromised, the loss that was suffered was not because of the compromise, but was due to the fact that his bank failed to notify the beneficiary bank of the fraud timeously. It was our recommendation that the complainant’s bank refund the complainant, and the bank agreed.
PRINCIPLE: Complainants should report fraud timeously to the bank, and if the bank fails to take the necessary measures to mitigate the loss, the bank will be held liable.
