With the increasing number of scams carried out on marketplaces and banks, legal mechanisms have been established to control the damages of the involved parties. This also involves the consumer, who needs to be very attentive when making a purchase because they might be paying a scammer.
The problem is that the buyer, upon discovering the scam, believes that the institutions are responsible for the full reimbursement of the amount paid to the criminal. But court decisions show that it's not quite like that.
The most recent case involves a purchase made on the OLX website. The victim made a payment of R$ 313. This amount would be a percentage charged and subsequently refunded. After the payment, the fake attendant sent a link which she clicked on and saw all the money disappear from the account. The amount was R$ 9,106.14.
The victim filed a lawsuit against Nubank S/A and others, as she believed they would be responsible for the security of the transaction. The judge in charge of the case, Lais Helena Bresser Lang, from the 4th Civil Court, understood that the institution was not at fault for the operation carried out between her and third parties.
Stefano Ribeiro Ferri, a specialist in Consumer Law and a lawyer who acted in the action as a defender for one of the banks (MICROCASH),reports that “it is important to highlight that all negotiations were carried out exclusively between the author and third parties, without any interference from financial institutions.
Therefore, the failure to exercise due care when making bank transfers to strangers demonstrates the occurrence of an external fortuitous event, that is, there is no security breach on the part of the banks, since there is no evidence of negligence, imprudence, or any failure in the provision of the service. "The CDC not only establishes rights for consumers but also imposes duties to be observed, such as, for example, the duty of diligence," observes the lawyer.
