The bank issued warnings and urged customers to protect their information

Apr 27, 2012 14:29 GMT  ·  By
Sparda teaches customers how to stay safe, but if they don't listen, they are liable for the losses caused by cybercriminals
   Sparda teaches customers how to stay safe, but if they don't listen, they are liable for the losses caused by cybercriminals

A court in Germany has ruled that the customers of financial institutions who fall for phishing scams and hand over their online banking credentials to cybercriminals are liable for the losses.

According to The Local, the decision was made in the case of an elderly man, customer of Sparda Bank, who lost €5,000 ($6,000) after falling victim to a phishing scheme.

While the man accused the bank of failing to protect its customers, the court named him as being negligent after providing fraudsters with ten transaction numbers (TAN codes), which allowed them to transfer the money to an account in Greece.

Apparently, the victim was presented with a replica of the bank’s legitimate website, where he submitted all the sensitive information.

The bank won the lawsuit because it not only displayed a warning on its site login page to alert customers of such plots, but also because when the man signed the contract with the institution he agreed to keep the TANs safe.

The money couldn’t be recovered from the Greek account.