A senior bank manager who was swindled out of 1.53 million yuan ($233,000) in 15 minutes after falling victim to a telecom scam sued the bank involved for flaws in its products that led to her loss.
The bank was ordered to pay 300,000 yuan for being judged to have had a 20 percent liability for the victim's loss, Pudong New Area People's Court said yesterday.
The case is still under investigation.
The victim surnamed Sun told the court she had received a scam call in January claiming her bank account was under risk. Following the alleged scammers's instruction, she applied for five loans worth 1.53 million yuan from the bank, which were immediately approved as she had an unmatured financial product worth 1.55 million yuan in her account. The loaned money was then allegedly cashed out by the scammers immediately.
As of April 8, Sun had "returned" 1.48 million yuan for the loans, including 10,000 yuan for an overdue fine. Because she did not immediately pay the loans back when they were due in February, her account was marked in the city's credit system.
However, Sun claimed that the bank should be responsible for her loss as it did not stipulate sufficient restrictions when placing the loaned money directly into her account.
Sun said the bank should compensate her for her lost principal, interest and overdue fine; and the record on her credit account should be revoked.
The bank argued that Sun had leaked her password in breach of the bank service agreements and she should be responsible for her losses.
The court said Sun had given approval via a USB key when "applying" for the loans.
However, the bank had failed to fully inform her of the risk of using a USB key as Sun had said and therefore should take a 20 percent liability in this case.
The bad credit record on Sun's account would be revoked, the court said.
