A debt of 44,892 hryvnias after activating a Kyivstar SIM card: a court decision in the case of a woman and PrivatBank.

After trying to activate the Kyivstar SIM card, the citizen lost 64,170 hryvnias from her PrivatBank credit card, which resulted in a debt of 44,892 hryvnias. Woman accepted a call from a representative of the Kyivstar cellular operator regarding the need for SIM card activation. Later, she lost the network, and an amount of 64,170 hryvnias was withdrawn from her PrivatBank credit card. Now she is being demanded to pay a debt of 44,892 hryvnias. This is stated in the decision of the Samara City District Court of the Dnipropetrovsk Region, published on July 11, 2025. The woman signed the statement in person on a tablet, which meets the requirements of NBU Resolution No. 151 dated December 13, 2019 “On Approval of the Regulation on the Use of Digital Handwritten Signatures in the Banking System of Ukraine.” She also certified the consumer credit passport. She was opened a credit line and granted a loan in the amount of 47,498 hryvnias for the “Payment in installments” service. In the process of preparing the statement of claim, it was established that she stopped making payments, referring to disputed transactions that were made with her card for the period from 09/06/2023 (transfers from the card). During the research of this information, it was found that on September 12, 2023, a client’s request was recorded, which was referred to specialists for clarification of specific circumstances. The client does not confirm the execution of the “Payment in installments” agreement dated September 7, 2023. It was established that during a telephone conversation with her, an unknown person, calling herself an employee of the Kyivstar mobile communications operator, informed her that she needed to activate the Kyivstar SIM card, for which she needed to enter a code. After entering the code, coverage of her SIM card for the Kyivstar phone number, which was tied to Privat-24, disappeared. As a result, outsiders took possession of funds from her cards. For its part, the bank fulfilled all the conditions of the signed contract, granted her a loan in the above-mentioned amount, however, the client, in violation of her obligations, did not make timely payments for the loan and interest for the use of the loan, as a result of which, as of May 27, 2024, there was arrears on the loan in the amount of 44,892 hryvnias. In her response to the lawsuit, the woman did not accept the demand, and asked for the lawsuit to be dismissed. In particular, she noted that during a telephone conversation, an unknown person, introducing himself as an employee of the Kyivstar mobile operator, said that she needed to activate the Kyivstar SIM card, for which a code had to be entered. After entering the code, the mobile connection of her SIM card to the “Kyivstar” phone number, which was assigned to Privat-24, disappeared. After that, outsiders took possession of the funds from the cards. She could no longer perform any operations in the Privat-24 application. Does not confirm execution of the “Payment in installments” agreement dated September 7, 2023. On September 18, 2023, she turned to the police with a statement about the crime. On September 19, 2023, criminal proceedings were opened based on this fact on the grounds of a criminal offense provided for in Part 4 of Article 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. It refers to the fact that during operations, the bank did not carry out proper verification of measures, including identification and verification of the client (clause 34, article 1 of the Law “On prevention and countermeasures against legalization (laundering) of proceeds obtained through crime, financing of terrorism and financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction”). Emphasizes that the fraudsters increased the credit limit and withdrew 64,170 hryvnias from her credit card in 34 minutes on 06/09/2023, while PrivatBank, in accordance with clause 4 of Art. 11 of the Law “On Prevention and Counteraction of Legalization (Laundering) of Criminal Proceeds, Financing of Terrorism, and Financing of the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction” should have carried out a proper check in the event of a financial transaction with virtual assets for an amount equal to or exceeding 30 thousand hryvnias and should have stopped issuing money by performing a proper check of the client or identification or verification.

What was the court’s decision? The court rejected the claim of PrivatBank. Transactions from the woman’s card account were made without her consent, she is not obliged to bear responsibility for such transactions.

JSC CB “PrivatBank” did not confirm with proper and admissible evidence that the defendant, as a credit card user, by her actions or inaction contributed to access to information on her credit card, personal account, account, application, illegal use of PIN code or other information that made it possible to initiate payment transactions on 09/06/2023 for the total amount of 64,170 hryvnias and is to blame for the loss of such funds of this user”, the court emphasized.