Bank Sues Identity Fraud Victim After $800,000 Removed From Its Account

from the how-nice-of-them dept

Recently, we pointed out that what's often called "identity theft" involving someone falsifying bank account info to take your money is really nothing of the sort, but is instead a bank robbery where the victim gets blamed. This comedy routine makes the point quite clearly:

"They took all the money? That sounds more like a bank robbery."
"No, no. If only. 'Cause we could take the hit. No, no. It was actually your identity that was stolen, primarily. It's a massive pisser for you."
"But, it's actually money that's been taken..."
"Yes"
"From you?"
"Kind of."
"I don't know what you want from me other than my commiserations."
"You see it was your identity. They said they were you!"
"And you believed them?"
"Yes, they stole your identity."
"Well, I don't know. I seem to still have my identity, whereas you seem to have lost several thousands of pounds. In light of that, I'm not sure why you think it was my identity that was stolen instead of your money."

To make this even more ridiculous, there's now a case where a company who had $800,000 removed from its bank account is being sued by that bank, PlainsCapital, in a proactive attempt by the bank to have a court declare that it is not, in fact, liable for the lost funds. The bank had been able to recover about $600,000 of the money, but the company pointed out that the bank should repay the rest -- and the bank responded by filing a lawsuit asking a court to establish that it was not at fault and had taken "commercially reasonable" steps to remain secure. This certainly does seem like one of these insult to injury situations.

Of course, it also seems like a massively poor way to market PlainsCapital. Not only will it not protect your money for you, if your money is taken by fraud from the bank, you may end up in court. That's not exactly a ringing endorsement of PlainsCapital.

Filed Under: identity fraud, lawsuits, liability, victims
Companies: plainscapital