The courts recognize the absence of liability on the part of the financial institution for the actions of a fraudster when the consumer’s fault is proven.

In a ruling issued in March of this year, the Special Civil Court of Ibitinga-SP decided to exempt Banco C6 from liability to compensate a consumer who claimed to have been the victim of a scam perpetrated by a street vendor.

According to the plaintiff, after attempting to purchase water from a street vendor for R$ 5.00 (five reais) using her bank card, she received a notification from the bank regarding the approval of a credit card purchase for R$ 2,900.00 (two thousand nine hundred reais).

This practice is popularly known and widely publicized in the media as “card fraud,” and is carried out by scammers in various ways.

There are cases in which the seller, intentionally, takes advantage of a moment of distraction on the part of the consumer and swaps their card for another, obtaining their banking information, through which they can make online purchases on credit.

On other occasions, fraudsters use machines with defaced or apparently damaged screens, thus inserting a higher amount than intended by the consumer.

Case law has established that banks are not automatically liable for disputed purchases; there must be proof of a failure in the security of personal data.

In this case, the judge understood that, since the plaintiff made the disputed purchase using a physical card with a personal and non-transferable password, and since the banking transaction did not deviate from their usual spending pattern, there was no causal link that would justify condemning the financial institution to reimburse the purchase.

Thus, the judgment dismissed the initial claims, exempting Banco C6 from any liability. According to the judge, ” despite what was alleged by the plaintiff, there is no minimal demonstration that the defendant financial institution acted with malice or negligence, as it is a case of exclusive fault of a third party .” And, “ despite the regrettable situation experienced by the plaintiff, this is a case of exclusive fault of the victim and a third party, which breaks the causal link and eliminates the duty to indemnify .”

The team at De Vivo, Castro, Cunha e Whitaker Advogados acted in defense of the banking institution.

Case number: 1000313-41.2025.8.26.0236