The Great Sacombank Heist: Court Orders Bank to Reimburse Customer’s Lost Funds

Almost VND 47 billion in bank deposits “disappeared into thin air”

On July 4, the People’s Court of Cam Ranh city, Khanh Hoa province, ruled in a civil case between the plaintiff, Ms. Ho Thi Thuy Duong (born in 1977, Cam Phu ward, Cam Ranh city), and the defendant, Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Sacombank), demanding the bank to refund VND 46.9 billion and late interest.

According to the court ruling, Ms. Ho Thi Thuy Duong had an account at the Cam Ranh Transaction Office of Sacombank’s Khanh Hoa branch.

In May 2022, Ms. Duong discovered that her account had been debited and requested the bank to provide a statement.

The statement revealed 12 transactions between May and June 2022, totaling VND 46.9 billion. Specifically, there were nine cash withdrawals and three transfers. Notably, some transactions occurred between 6:00 PM and 9:00 PM, outside regular business hours.

Following the incident, Ms. Duong sent petitions to the State Bank of Vietnam and the Ministry of Public Security, seeking assistance in recovering the lost amount of VND 46.9 billion from her Sacombank account.

In April 2023, Sacombank negotiated with Ms. Duong and her husband and agreed to refund VND 20 billion. At the time of the refund, the bank took two land-use right certificates from the couple.

In court, Ms. Duong’s family requested Sacombank to refund the remaining VND 26.9 billion (after deducting the previously refunded VND 20 billion) plus interest, totaling more than VND 36 billion.

Court rules in favor of the customer and orders the bank to refund the money

Sacombank requested the court to dismiss all of Ms. Duong’s claims, arguing that the 12 withdrawal slips for VND 46.9 billion bore her signature.

Additionally, the bank stated that the VND 20 billion transferred to Ms. Duong’s account was a temporary payment made at the customer’s request.

“During the meetings, Ms. Duong mentioned that due to financial difficulties, waiting for the conclusions of the investigating agencies would take a long time, so she requested the bank to refund the money. The bank agreed to temporarily pay VND 20 billion to address her difficulties and held on to two land-use right certificates belonging to Ms. Duong and her husband,” said a representative of Sacombank.

After considering the plaintiff’s arguments, relevant documents, and evidence presented in court, the judges agreed with the plaintiff’s claims.

The court found that Ms. Duong did not perform the nine cash withdrawals and three transfers totaling VND 46.9 billion. Notably, two of the cash withdrawals occurred when Ms. Duong was not in Khanh Hoa province, as confirmed by her travel agency. Therefore, there is no basis to conclude that she executed these transactions.

Furthermore, Ms. Duong did not authorize or provide a written power of attorney to anyone to withdraw or transfer the said amount of VND 46.9 billion. The court also noted several irregularities in the transactions, such as transfers made outside regular business hours and amounts exceeding the prescribed limits.

“With these irregularities, the bank must take responsibility for its mistakes and for being exploited by fraudsters to appropriate the customer’s assets,” the court stated.

After a day of trial, the court ruled that Sacombank must refund the full amount of VND 46.9 billion to its customer, along with accrued interest.

Since the bank had previously refunded VND 20 billion, it is required to pay Ms. Duong the remaining VND 26.9 billion, plus interest as per regulations.

Additionally, the court ordered Sacombank to return the land-use right certificates that it had retained from Ms. Duong.