Legal Liability of Banks in Fraudulent Activities

Especially as internet banking has increased its place in our daily lives, its use in fraudulent activities has become more common. In this context, people may become victims of fraudulent activity through the transfer of money in their bank accounts or high amounts of expenditures made from seized credit cards.

So, considering that it is not possible to reach fraudsters, who can be contacted to cover the damage suffered as a result of fraudulent activities, by whom and how will the damage be covered?

The most important interlocutor for compensation for the damage incurred as a result of fraud committed through the bank is, first of all, the person who committed the fraud. Since this person caused damage to people as a result of his wrongful act, he is obliged to compensate for the damage suffered by people. In addition, the bank of which the client is a customer also has some responsibilities in case of fraudulent activities carried out through the bank. As a matter of fact, in providing and receiving a secure internet banking service, there are some additional obligations that fall on both the bank and the customer, in addition to the obligations in normal banking transactions. In this context, since banks offer internet banking services to their customers, it is of great importance that banks take all precautions for the security of the internet banking system and make the system compatible with the latest known technological developments by eliminating system errors and deficiencies. The fact that customers use internet banking will not eliminate the banks' obligation to protect deposits, nor will it alleviate their responsibilities. In this context, the bank, which wants to reach a larger customer base by transferring its transactions to the internet environment and therefore earn more profit, must take the necessary technological and software precautions in parallel, create a security mechanism that will instantly prevent malicious third parties from attempting to enter the internet banking system in the face of developing technology, and constantly monitor its system. It must be updated and renewed, and in case of any irregular transaction, it must take the necessary precautions and inform its customers immediately.

Regarding what unusual and suspicious transactions are, transactions that are not based on the customer's routine transactions are considered unusual, suspicious and therefore risky transactions in the banking sector. As a matter of fact, a person who previously made low-amount transactions suddenly makes a high-amount transaction, or a person who does not shop abroad makes a purchase abroad, which are considered risky transactions in the banking sector.In this respect, a bank must strictly activate risky transaction monitoring systems and activate additional security processes when an unusual transaction occurs. Therefore, a bank that does not take the necessary security measures is responsible for the damage it may incur even if it shares a text message received on its customer's phone during the fraudulent activity.

For the reasons explained above, if internet and/or mobile banking transactions are used in fraudulent activities, the banks that enable the use of these systems are obliged to take all measures for the security of the system, otherwise they are responsible for the damage suffered by people defrauded in this way.