Caixa cannot be held responsible for the motoboy scam, decides TRF

Caixa Econômica Federal is not responsible for the damage caused to an account holder, who was the victim of the so-called motoboy scam, according to a decision taken on the 17th by the TRF-4 (Federal Regional Court of the 4th Region), based in Porto Alegre.

The compensation had been requested by a client of the bank who lives in Ponta Grossa (PR), after she had a loss of R$ 25 thousand with the coup.

The motoboy scam occurs when an embezzler calls the victim, asking for his password and other confidential data and says that his card needs to be cut, but leaving the chip intact. Then, a motorcyclist goes to the citizen’s house and withdraws the card.

With the customer’s data, password and chip in hand, scammers make several purchases on the card, generating losses of thousands of reais.

If the victim refuses to provide the information, the criminal passes a phone number supposedly from the bank for service, but the call is intercepted by someone from the gang.

October 2021 data from Febraban (federation that represents banks) show that, in the pandemic, the fake motoboy scam grew by 271%.

According to the TRF-4, the account holder from the interior of Paraná appealed to the court, after having received a judgment of dismissal in the first instance.

“She claims that Caixa is responsible for what happened and that it would have reimbursed her R$ 14 thousand, admitting that. She then asked for the rest of the material damages, plus double the total amount stolen for moral damages”, says a note released by the court. .

The judges were unanimous in deciding that the financial institution cannot respond for scams applied by third parties, and it is up to the account holder to act.

According to the rapporteur, judge Marga Inge Barth Tessler, no failure was demonstrated in the banking institution’s service, as the data was provided directly by the author to the scammer.

“It is up to the account holder to act with zeal and care in the use of his password, given that the financial institution cannot answer for any operation carried out by a third party, who had access to the data and password due to the author’s carelessness.”

wanted by SheetCaixa had not yet commented on the case until the publication of this text.

On its page, the bank advises that the customer, if he suspects any call coming from Caixa, hang up the phone and call the Cards Service Center, at the numbers 4004-0104 (capitals and metropolitan regions) and 0800-104-0104 ( other regions).

Preferably, the call should be made five minutes after the consumer hangs up the phone or from a different phone than the one that received the suspicious call. “Scammers tap the customer’s phone for up to two minutes after the contact is finalized, even when the customer calls the number informed on the card or on Caixa’s website.”

The correct service channels can also be found on the bank’s website or on the back of the card.

“Caixa never collects bank cards, even if unused. Asking the customer to type or inform passwords is also not a bank practice. If you need to throw away a card, destroy it completely, cutting its chip in half, and never given to anyone”, informs the institution.