Sacombank forced to return $1.4 mln to customer for deposit loss

The People's Court of Cam Ranh town in the south-central province of Khanh Hoa on Thursday instructed Ho Chi Minh City-based lender Sacombank to return over VND36 billion ($1.41 million) to a local customer for deposit losses.

The court ruled that Sacombank should return the money to Ho Thi Thuy Duong from Cam Phu ward, Cam Ranh town.

Duong claimed for VND46.9 billion ($1.84 million) in principal. As the bank had already paid Duong VND20 billion previously, the due figure was VND26.9 billion.

The jury also ordered the bank to pay Duong more than VND7 billion ($274,995) in interest for late payment and more than VND2.4 billion in compensation, and return two land use rights certificates to Duong.

Hence, in addition to the VND20 billion previously paid, the bank has to pay the plaintiff a total of VND36 billion ($1.41 million), it said.

Based on the plaintiff's evidence as well as the comparison of related documents and evidence, the jury determined that the fault belonged to Sacombank.

According to the jury, the account owner, Ho Thi Thuy Duong, did not make any cash withdrawals or transfers from her account. Of the 12 transactions, two took place on June 13-15, 2022 when Duong was on Phu Quoc island, Kien Giang province for a vacation. This was confirmed by a travel company.

On the other hand, individuals at Sacombank’s Cam Ranh branch arbitrarily withdrew money from Duong’s account multiple times, which was uncovered by Khanh Hoa police in a criminal case.

The jury also held that the process of withdrawing the VND46.9 billion ($1.84 million) from Duong's account showed many errors, including withdrawing money without the account owner's presence at the transaction office, withdrawing money outside of prescribed hours, transferring an amount beyond the allowed limit, and taking documents out of the bank's headquarters illegally.

"Therefore, Sacombank must take responsibility for the damage to the customer from the bank’s errors," it ruled.

According to Duong, in May 2022, she discovered that the money in her account had disappeared, so she asked Sacombank to issue statements from May 1, 2022 to check her transactions. She found 12 unusual withdrawals and transfers with a total value of VND49.6 billion ($1.84 million).

She said she did not make any withdrawals at the counter or transfers via internet banking. Worth mentioning, these transactions were performed without any message of account balance changes sent to her phone.

The statement also showed that nine cash withdrawals were made from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., when the transaction offices were closed.