Russia, a man is taking a bank to court after forcing him to pay interest on a loan that he never asked for, after fraudster used his stolen smartphone to take out the pre-approved loan on his name.
Vladimir Volokhovich, from Moscow, made on news headlines in Russia after finding himself right in the middle of an unusual scandal. He is being asked by the Russian branch of Alpha Bank to pay up the pre-approved loan taken up by fraudsters who use his stolen phone in his name.
The scammers did not only transferred part of the funds to their accounts successfully, but the interest on the loan Vladimir never asked for is adding up every day. However, the bank refuses to cancel the loan, claiming that Vladimir should have reported his smartphone get stolen sooner.
“I lost my mobile phone, on which the Alfa-Bank application was installed,” said Vladimir Volokhovich.
“Due to a number of circumstances, I could not immediately block access to any of my apps, since I didn’t have Internet access for 24 hours after losing it. Later, I received information from a colleague that my phone had been found, and that the person who found it would call the next day so I could meet them to pick it up.” he added.
“As it turned out, this was a trick designed to buy time and allow the scammers to get a loan in the amount of 1.5 million rubles ($20,000) , issued using a simple electronic signature,” Volokhovich added. “They managed to withdraw 140 thousand rubles ($1,900) to their accounts, before the bank blocked transfers.”
He then filed an application asking for the loan to be canceled cause of he is a victim of a scam. Unfortunately, the application was rejected by Alpha Bank because he failed to report his smartphone as stolen and block his SIM card. The bank claims that it cannot protect clients from loss or theft of a smartphone, and it is their own responsibility to notify the bank immediately so it can block all access to the bank.
“Did I ask for the loan, sign the papers, did I show up in person? How could you give a stranger a loan in my name? Is it legal? The document – the loan agreement – is signed by electronic signature,” he complained.
Source: Oddity Central