THE “CARDLESS” SYSTEM
First of all, the context: contactless payment allows you to carry out transactions without inserting the card into the terminal, but simply by holding it close to the reader, making operations faster for both the buyer and the seller. Today it is also possible to make contactless payments via smartphone (without the physical presence of the card). In fact, you just need to register your card on your phone and, at the time of payment, hold it close to the reader, just like you would with a card.
However, this technology opens the way to new forms of fraud: an attacker, equipped with a portable POS not connected to the electricity grid, can approach the victim’s pocket where the smartphone is stored and carry out an unauthorized transaction, as long as the amount is lower than the threshold that requires PIN entry.
In the case followed by Confconsumatori, provincial office of Bari, the consumer became aware of the unauthorized operations only after casually consulting the list of movements via the bank’s APP. The episode occurred even though he had always diligently kept the card, placed it in the desk drawer and used it exclusively via the APP.
These are well-thought-out and increasingly frequent frauds, which often clash with the Credit Institute’s refusal to reimburse the damaged customer. In this case, however, thanks to the intervention of Confconsumatori Bitonto – Bari provincial office and the lawyers Nuccia Lisi and Filomena Panzarino, the consumer turned to the Financial Banking Arbitrator.
THE REFEREE’S DECISION
The defrauded citizen, assisted by Confconsumatori, unable to obtain a refund from the Intermediary, turned to the Banking Financial Arbitrator who finally recognized the account holder’s right to a full refund of the 1,505 euros that had been stolen from him.
«The Board of Bari – commented the lawyers Filomena Panzarino and Nuccia Lisi, the latter President of Confconsumatori Bitonto – accepted the appeal, fully confirming the thesis put forward by us according to which the description in general terms of the authorization process of the operations carried out on the payment channel as carried out by the Intermediary in the case in question, in the absence of further evidence regarding the correct authentication based on the system with *****id code, it is not sufficient in order to consider the burden of proof fulfilled burden on the intermediary”.
«Moreover, in the examined case of contactless transactions – the lawyers comment – the Board found that the intermediary, while claiming to make “the Alert text message service available to its customers, which can be activated free of charge and offers the possibility of maintaining movements relating to the Card are under control” and that this service is “active by DEFAULT within the App”, did not provide proof either of the relative activation by default (or deactivation by the appellant in concrete terms), nor of the sending to the consumer with notices for each of the disputed operations”.
«Indeed, taking into account the fact that said operations took place over a period of two days, the activation of the “alert” service would probably have allowed the consumer to be aware of the anomalous fraudulent movements, offering him the possibility of mitigating the financial damage suffered”, continue lawyers Lisi and Panzarino.
Finally, they conclude: «This is yet another victory for us in the field of online fraud which has led to the reimbursement to savers of a substantial sum, almost 50 thousand euros».
