Bunq’s defrauded customers are not entitled to higher compensation, judge rules

A Bunq spokesperson confirmed this following a report from the Financieele Dagblad (FD).

Many dozens of Bunq customers have fallen victim to scams since last year. For example, they clicked on a fake link in a text message, or were called by a Bunq employee who pressured them to transfer money. RTL Nieuws spoke to victims before which often lost tens of thousands of euros.

Bunq pledged this summer to compensate all victims ‘generously’ with an average compensation of 85 per cent. According to a spokesperson for the bank, each case is assessed individually and this could lead to one victim receiving more than another. The company does not make any statements about numbers and amounts.

Victims go to court

Many customers have now agreed to Bunq’s recommendations and this has also led to the withdrawal of several legal cases against the bank.

But not everyone satisfied about Bunq’s offer. Some customers refused limited compensation and went to court to demand more. However, separate decisions now show that the judge does not agree with this. Bunq’s security systems are in order, the court ruled. In addition, the customers themselves have made serious mistakes.

For example, one of them had given criminals access to her computer and shared her login name and password. She was later robbed of more than 40,000 euros. However, Bunq’s terms and conditions state that a customer may never share that data with third parties.

Most banks will, under certain conditions, compensate consumers for damages if they are victims of fraud, but banks are not obliged to do so. So the reports are not surprising, says Joyce Donat, a spokesperson for the Consumers Association. “The legal framework is lacking.”

The lack of laws also means that judges assess each case of fraud individually. Therefore decision has no direct impact on other victims or other banks.

No new offer

Since the compensation relates to a so-called compassionate arrangement, the applicants do not have to count on a new offer from Bunq, says the company’s spokesperson. “They rejected our previous offer and then went to court,” he says. And with that they can whistle for their money, although according to Bunq an exception was made in one distressing case ‘.

Lawyer Chizki Loonstein of Aliter Melius, who has helped dozens of victims before, hopes to be able to take action against the Internet bank. According to him, the victims are not receiving compensation as generously as promised. “We want to know from Bunq why one person gets nothing and the other 50 or 70 percent. He says there are also victims who have not received compensation at all.