ONLINE BANK SCAMS

A recent Superior Court decision in Minas Gerais state has stripped clients of protection against unauthorized withdrawals from their accounts if they have been victims of e-mail banking scams. This decision may also set juris prudence which would thus apply to banks everywhere in Brazil.

The 9ª Câmara Cível do Tribunal de Justiça de Minas Gerais (TJMG) overturned a lower court decision and ruled against a client who was seeking to be indemnified for a loss of over R$5 thousand that had been withdrawn from his account after he had responded to a false e-mail "Bradesco Alert" advising him that he was required to furnish certain private information regarding his account in order to prevent his password for online banking being blocked. As he was residing in another state and feared the great difficulties that a blockage would cause he responded with the information, giving the crooks EVERYTHING they required to wipe-out his account.

The Court ruled that the client, himself, was solely responsible for his losses in that he provided the information which allowed access to his account. The client was awarded damages equal to the financial loss suffered, but appealed the decision because he also wanted punitive damages in excess of his loss. Looks like he should have been happy with what he had gained in the initial decision, but he decided to shoot craps and came up "snake eyes". Guess it serves him right for trying to be so greedy.

Anyway, what does this ruling mean? You are completely and solely responsible for any losses incurred if you divulge passwords, and other information that allows others access to your bank accounts... END OF STORY. You cannot seek compensation after such action results in financial losses to you.

These scams almost always initiate from organized crime groups. They are quite sophisticated and set up fantom websites that are virtually mirror images of the real bank's website; so much so that they almost fool the experts. The sites contain all the right logos and information, they link to criminals factions outside the bank's domain and most people simply do not look at the URL that is actually linked to, so they fall into the trap.

Just remember that NO BANK IN BRAZIL will enter into contact with its clients by way of e-mail messages. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER. This is the only warning you need to know that it's a scam. Any e-mail alerts from banks should be deleted without ever being opened. No bank is immune from such scams and they all will be scrambling to seek the protection that this ruling offers them.

It's quite amusing to me (since I don't have a bank account at any Brazilian bank) the frequency of such scams. Hardly a week goes by that I don't get some kind of "notification" from Bradesco, HSBC, Santander, Itaú or any of the others that "my registration information needs to be updated" and failing to do so will result in a blockage or closure of my account. They're going to close the account that I DON'T HAVE IN THE FIRST PLACE, that's a laugh.