Banking
I Was Scammed: How Do I File a Claim With My Bank, Step by Step?
The documents you need, the deadline, and the channels for filing a claim over electronic fraud, and what your financial institution must do when it gets it.
Translated from the Spanish original. If there is any discrepancy between the two versions, the Spanish text prevails. Read the original in Spanish.
It is eleven at night and your phone alerts you to a transfer you did not make. You call your bank and are told to “file a claim.” What do you write, what documents do you bring, and how much time do you have? Law 10889 and the regulation on computer fraud issued by the General Superintendency of Financial Entities (Superintendencia General de Entidades Financieras, Sugef) (Acuerdo SUGEF 5-26) set out how that claim is filed and what the institution must do from the moment it receives it. Doing it right is what later allows you to demand your money back.
Who can file a claim, and by when?
Anyone who does not recognize a transaction in which they were the victim of a scam, electronic fraud, or an unauthorized debit can file a claim. So can anyone who discovers that third parties used their account to defraud other people (Article 3 of Law 10889 and Article 6 of the regulation).
The deadline is thirty calendar days, that is, counting weekends and holidays, from the date of the events (Article 3 of the law). The law does not count it from when you noticed, so it is wise to check your transactions often. If the deadline passes, the law keeps other administrative and judicial avenues open (Article 15), but you risk losing this procedure, which sets short deadlines for the institution.
What do I need to file it?
The law requires two things (Article 3):
- The institution’s form. It must be simple and allow you to explain clearly what happened. Write down the date and time you saw the transactions, the amounts, the destination accounts if they appear, how it happened (a call, a message, a website), and what information you gave, if any. Tell the truth even if you think it hurts you: being deceived is not a ground for rejecting the claim.
- A copy of the criminal complaint filed with the Judicial Investigation Agency (Organismo de Investigación Judicial, OIJ). The complaint can be made orally or in writing (Article 279 of the Criminal Procedure Code, Código Procesal Penal) and should describe, as far as possible, how the events occurred, who took part, and what evidence exists (Article 280). Always ask for your copy.
Where do I file it?
The institution must have an easy-to-find claims service at each of its branches. It must also offer telephone, digital, and self-service channels that operate twenty-four hours a day, every day of the year. Using them is not mandatory: you may choose to go to the branch. Those channels must allow your products to be temporarily blocked without delay and must keep a verifiable record of the time and channel through which you gave notice (Article 4 of the law; Articles 6 and 18 of the regulation).
If it is nighttime and you do not yet have the complaint, do not wait: use the twenty-four-hour channel to give notice and block your products, and complete the claim with the copy of the complaint as soon as you have it.
What must the institution do when it receives it?
When it receives the claim, the institution is required to (Article 4 of the law and Article 7 of the regulation):
- Immediately give you a receipt number or code that includes the date and time.
- Immediately block the affected product for electronic transactions and offer you an alternative so you can keep carrying out your transactions.
- Send you, as soon as possible and through the means you have registered, a communication confirming the block and stating the code.
That code is your proof of when you filed, and it has two effects. First, if transactions you did not authorize appear afterward, the institution is liable for them and for their financial consequences (Article 3 of the law and Article 7 of the regulation). Second, from that moment the institution’s thirty calendar days to investigate and decide begin to run, extendable only once by up to ten business days if it notifies you three days before the deadline expires. If the claim is valid, it must credit the money to you within ten calendar days (Article 3).
We explain why the institution is liable even when it was not at fault in our article on the bank’s liability. If it rejects the claim, it must do so with evidence and Sugef reviews that decision; and if it is late, the law provides for consequences.
Practical recommendations
- Block first, through the twenty-four-hour channel or from the app, and write down the code, date, and time.
- File the complaint with the OIJ the same day if you can, and ask for the copy.
- Fill out the form with specific facts and keep proof that you filed it.
- Keep the block confirmation and all communications with the institution.
- Count the thirty calendar days from the events and do not let them run out.
- Check your account statements after the block: any later unauthorized transaction is the institution’s responsibility.
Need help?
A well-prepared claim makes everything that follows easier. At Murillo y Guzmán we can help you prepare it, review the institution’s response, and assist you if you need to go to Sugef or to the courts. Book a consultation.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice for any specific case. To discuss your situation, book a consultation.