From 1,000 to 80,000 euros… In recent months, several hundred bank customers LCL saw all or part of their savings literally disappear from their accounts, via external transfers that they did not authorize. According to them, a flaw in the bank’s computer system allowed hackers to add themselves as beneficiaries, under the nose and beard of LCL.
Problem, the bank refuses to reimburse the sums defrauded, which the law imposes on it, however, accusing the victims of negligence. Solicited, the consumer association France conso bank announced on July 8 that it was launching a collective action.
Heavy artillery
” If the negotiation does not work, you must be ready to draw the weapon of the procedurewarned Michel Guillaud, the president of the association, at the start of the conference. The collective action is a big procedure, but it allows to be supported by the lawyers of the association specialized in banking law. The LCL has committed several shortcomings, including the absence of double identification for the addition of a new beneficiary “. France conso bank intends to double this civil action with a criminal complaint against x.
????Top start of the Collective Action???? against the bank #LCL
?Faced with the stagnation and non-reimbursement of victims of bank fraud
?Thousands of people affected by wire transfer fraud
Join the action before 05/09/2022https://t.co/KrUJvj8aq3– France Conso Bank (@F_consobanque) July 8, 2022
Behind their screen, several cheated customers testify to their misfortune. All have observed fraudulent transfers abroad. The sums lost are scattered and frightening: 6,000 euros, 8,900 euros, 10,600 euros, 40,000 euros ” punctured from my booklet A and my booklet Cerise “, the additional booklet of the LCL, quotes a witness or even nearly 80,000 euros… In total and to date, more than 360,000 euros would have been thus stolen from approximately 200 customers of the LCL.
Cascading procedures
All face the same (no) answers from their branch: you have to contact the bank’s mediator, ” a simple employee who can do nothing for them “, quips Michel Guillaud, who encourages victims to join collective action.
Contacted by Investthe LCL indicates that “ the non-reimbursement of certain files is explained by the proven existence of negligence and shortcomings which accumulate: response to a phishing message (or phishing), communication by the customer of his personal data (online bank identifiers – different at LCL from the account number – personal authenticators, “one-time-password” sms authenticating a connection or operations), non-activation of measures in response to warning signals and communications sent by LCL following solicitations or suspicious connections “.
The case painfully echoes another summons to court, brought at the end of June by the UFC Que Choisir, this time against twelve major French banks, including LCL, for refusal to reimburse… bank fraud. In the Assembly, an amendment tabled by the NUPES deputies within the framework of the law on purchasing power, and voted on at first reading, establishes a penalty of 20% per month of delay in the event of non-reimbursement under 30 days after the fraudulent charge.