Citizens Who Fell Victim to Online Loan Fraud Have Their Loans Frozen; Banks Most Affected Identified

Until June 1, loans of citizens who became victims of banking fraud have been frozen until the completion of criminal investigations. This means that an examination must be conducted to determine the verdicts. The court will clarify who stole the money and whose money it was. If it is revealed that the citizens had malicious participation, they will become fraudsters rather than victims, and the issue will be resolved by the court's decision, said Mher Karagozyan, the president of the Public Oversight NGO, in an interview with "Facts Info."

It is worth mentioning that for a long time, several citizens have reported being victims of banking fraud. As of April, more than 300 reports had been received. Residents indicated that loans had been issued in their names for considerable sums that they were not even aware of. Most of the reports pertained to IDBank, Inecobank, and Ardshinbank.

Karagozyan emphasized that citizens' financial rights have been restored at this point; there were citizens whose accounts contained amounts ranging from 5 to 10 million drams, which had been stolen but have now been returned and are accessible. If the court ruling finds that a citizen was malicious and acted deceitfully while posing as a victim, the loan agreement will be enforced, and the money will be returned to the bank; otherwise, the money will remain with the citizen.

“This is a fair solution, but after that, we received further reports of new frauds. A new bank has been added to our list—Artsakhbank, where approximately 10–11 million drams were stolen from citizens' accounts, and the bank refuses to take responsibility. Here too, there is a violation of rights, as it is claimed that the citizen is at fault for providing personal information. Victims should never be blamed, because blaming a citizen trapped in a scam only facilitates the commission of the crime and provides support to the criminal. Our message remains the same: regardless of how a citizen finds themselves trapped and provides data they consider personal, the bank must conduct proper identification. In any case, the issue of the victims of fraud recorded after June 1 is still unresolved,” Karagozyan noted, adding that there is still work to be done in this direction.

The human rights defender also pointed out that the relevant employees of the Investigative Committee, who were dealing with this issue, have been dismissed; it is unclear whether due to pressure or the system removed them. There is no cooperation with new investigators, nor is there any willingness to engage with them.

“They are still bringing about civil pressures. The problem must be systemic. If the issue has been resolved in this logic, then it should apply to everyone. How do the citizens who became victims of fraud before June 1 differ from those affected after June 1, in that a decision applies to them while it does not apply to the victims after June 1?” Karagozyan queried.

The human rights defender highlighted another aspect: among the citizens affected before June 1, loans had been issued in their names that are now frozen until the criminal case is resolved, yet money has been deducted from their salaries and pensions, as the interest on loans illegally issued in their names has been counted and deducted. Currently, banks still refrain from returning that money.

“Citizens have again borne financial penalties. There is some collaboration between us and the banks; however, the banks are still refusing to return illegally collected funds. I insist that that money has been unlawfully deducted, both as principal and interest payments. If you have canceled the interest and frozen the loan until the completion of the criminal case, why have the funds been deducted from citizens, especially since in many cases, the citizen did not make the payments voluntarily, but under pressure, or to avoid being listed as a bad debtor, or simply without question, the bank has withdrawn money from citizens' accounts,” Karagozyan stated.