Fraudsters took out a loan in your name: what to do

The scheme is usually the same: a call "from the bank" or "from the Investigative Committee", a one-time code read out from a text message, and a day later a loan taken out remotely and money gone to someone else's account. Here is the sequence that produces results.

The first hours

A report to the police. It is filed in respect of fraud. The acknowledgement slip confirming the report has been accepted is the document you will need in every later application. The report is accepted at any police station, regardless of where the incident took place.

An application to the bank. In writing, with a receipt stamp: state that you did not enter into the agreement, demand that the transactions be blocked and that you be given the documents on the basis of which the loan was issued. The time for a reply is set by the consumer credit legislation and the bank's own rules.

An application to the recipient's bank. If you know the account the money went to, file an application to suspend the transactions. The National Payment System legislation obliges a bank to suspend crediting when it receives information about a transfer made without the customer's consent.

Changing passwords and checking devices. Access is often obtained through remote-access software installed at the request of the "specialist". It has to be removed, but first record the fact that it was installed: that is evidence.

How the agreement is challenged

There are two routes, and they usually run in parallel.

A declaration that the agreement was never concluded. The argument: there was no expression of will, the agreement was not signed by the borrower. This works where the signature is forged, or where the remote signing was carried out from someone else's device.

A declaration that the agreement is invalid as a transaction entered into under the influence of deception.

In recent years the Supreme Court has taken a clear position: a bank issuing a loan remotely must act in good faith and with reasonable care, and must check for signs of atypical behaviour. If the money is credited and immediately transferred to a third party, if the transactions are carried out from a new device and at an unusual time, and the bank does nothing, that counts against the bank.

The practical conclusion: the claim should describe not only the fraudsters' deception, but also the bank's failure to exercise proper care.

What evidence is needed

Itemised call and message records for the period. Information on the device and IP address the transactions were carried out from, obtained through the court or the investigation. Data on where the money went. Recordings of the calls, if any survive. The decision opening the criminal case and the decision recognising you as the injured party.

The criminal case is an important part of this: suspension of the criminal proceedings does not prevent a civil claim, whereas a refusal to open a case weakens your position, and that refusal should be challenged straight away.

Credit history and debt collectors

Until the dispute is resolved, the record of the debt stays in the credit bureau and damages your score. The record is challenged by an application to the bureau, which is obliged to check the information with its source, or through the court together with the main claim.

If the debt has been passed to collectors, send them notice of the dispute enclosing the police acknowledgement slip and the statement of claim, together with a notice refusing further contact under the legislation on the protection of rights in debt collection. That limits the calls and the visits.

Important: a notice refusing contact does not cancel the debt, it changes the way you are contacted.

If the loan was taken out using a lost passport

This is a separate scenario. You will also need: the report of the loss with its date, the certificate confirming the issue of a new passport, and handwriting expert evidence on the signature in the agreement.

In cases of this kind the courts more often side with the individual where the bank failed to check the validity of the passport against the Ministry of Internal Affairs database: that check is available and free.

What not to do

Do not pay "to protect your credit history" before the dispute is resolved: a payment is treated as acknowledgement of the agreement.

Do not sign restructuring agreements on a disputed loan: that creates a new agreement.

Do not stop at a phone call to the bank. Anything that is not confirmed in writing does not exist in court.

This material is for information only and is not a substitute for advice on a specific case.

If fraudsters have taken out a loan in your name, write to us. The first consultation is free of charge where an engagement agreement is signed.

Dmitry Malyutov — advocate, chairman of the Kovalev, Malyutov, Tsypkalo & Partners Moscow Bar Association