What to do when bank deposits suddenly disappear?

At the press conference of the Hanoi People's Committee on the afternoon of March 28, Major General Nguyen Thanh Tung, Deputy Director of Hanoi Police, informed about the case of a customer suddenly losing 58 billion VND at Vietnam Maritime Commercial Joint Stock Bank (MSB).

The Hanoi City Police Department's Security Investigation Agency has initiated a case and temporarily detained Ms. Bui Thi Hoai Anh, Director of MSB Thanh Xuan Bank, for fraud and property appropriation.

Through investigation, the police initially determined that Ms. Bui Thi Hoai Anh had committed fraud and appropriated the assets of 8 victims who deposited money at MSB with a total amount of 338 billion VND.

From the above incident, many people raised questions about the rights of depositors, who are the victims of the incident, and what customers should do when their bank deposits suddenly disappear.

Need to determine who is the victim in the case of customers losing money at MSB Bank

On March 29, speaking with reporters, lawyer Truong Anh Tu (TAT Law Firm) said that according to information from the investigation agency, customers transacted directly at branches, bank transaction offices and with bank staff.

The money the customer deposited was then lost.

Therefore, the lawyer believes that this case can also be considered as a sign of property theft or embezzlement, the victim here must be the bank, not the customer.

Lawyer Tu said that from a civil law perspective, depositing money in a bank or credit institution must be understood as a property loan contract.

Therefore, when money is deposited in a bank, the bank becomes the owner of that money and is responsible for that asset.

In civil law, money has a characteristic that when transferring money, it always comes with a transfer of ownership, therefore, the damaged party in this case must be the bank.

"In this situation, the bank must be responsible for compensating customers without going through court," lawyer Tu emphasized.

Sharing the same view, Dr. and lawyer Dang Van Cuong (Hanoi Bar Association) said that in case the bank is identified as the victim or the perpetrator of the crime of embezzlement, the risk will belong to the bank.

In case the customer or the person depositing money in the bank is determined to be the victim or the criminal who must serve a prison sentence and is unable to return the property, the risk will belong to the customer.

Meanwhile, lawyer Nguyen Dai Hai, Fanci Law Firm LLC (Hanoi Bar Association), also said that in case the customer has deposited money in the bank (with confirmation of receipt), the bank must be responsible for this money such as managing, returning money, compensating if causing damage...

"Suppose that during the time the bank was managing the money, the female director of MSB forged the customer's signature and took advantage of her position and authority to withdraw money, then it can be affirmed that the bank is the victim. The customer is only a person involved in the case," said lawyer Hai.

In case the customer withdraws money, meaning the bank no longer manages this money, the customer must take responsibility.

If a customer takes action to deposit money back into MSB Bank but under the guidance of bank staff who are showing signs of fraud to appropriate the customer's money, it is necessary to identify the bank staff who committed fraud to appropriate assets directly from the customer and the customer is the victim.

What should customers do when their deposits "suddenly disappear"?

Lawyer Tu said that first of all, customers need to stay calm and collect all records and documents related to transactions with the bank.

Next, the customer should collect evidence to initiate a civil lawsuit to reclaim the money from the bank. Because the relationship between the depositor and the bank is often considered a civil transaction regarding the receipt of deposits.

"It is necessary to clearly distinguish between two legal relationships: if there are signs of law violations by bank officials, that will be the criminal responsibility of that individual official before the law. This is independent of the relationship between the bank and the depositors," the lawyer stated.

Also according to lawyer Truong Anh Tu,For those who intend to deposit money at the bank, they should avoid transactions outside the headquarters and should go directly to bank branches to make transactions.

During the deposit process, customers need to pay attention to fully fill in the information and data in the documents, and only receive the documents back when they have the signature of the transaction staff and the confirmation stamp of the bank.

In addition, people should choose reputable banks in the system and avoid precedents of deposit loss.

For customers who have deposits at banks and credit institutions, it is necessary to increase awareness of security and information confidentiality, and comply with transaction procedures with the bank.

Customers should also avoid accessing links of unknown origin that can cause their accounts to be hacked. They should register for balance changes via SMS and regularly check their account balance...

Lawyer Dang Van Cuong recommends that to minimize such cases, it is necessary to keep customer information confidential. Strengthening the control mechanism in the system of bank staff is extremely necessary.