Temuco Court halts Banco de Chile debt collection against customer who was victim of $3 million fraud
Temuco Court of Appeals ordered Banco de Chile to cease debt collection and delete delinquency records of a customer affected by fraudulent transactions.
Banco de Chile must eliminate delinquency record of customer who was victim of phone fraud
A Banco de Chile customer received a call in September 2025 from someone who identified themselves as a bank executive, claiming there was a platform fault. Shortly after, they discovered fraudulent transactions of approximately 3 million pesos in their account. According to eldesconcierto.cl, the case reached the Temuco Court of Appeals, which ordered the cessation of charges linked to the fraud and the deletion of delinquency records.
According to the court ruling, the affected customer stated they had not provided their security credentials. They explained that they believed the call because the banking platform was experiencing faults at that time and because they were usually contacted by executives from personal mobile phones. After reporting the transactions, the bank partially reimbursed them 2.2 million pesos.
In April 2026, the customer began receiving communications about the closure of their financial products due to an alleged debt. They also faced collection efforts through SOCOFIN, interest charges and delinquency reports to commercial registries such as DICOM. The financial institution maintained that the transactions had used valid credentials, Digipass and dynamic passwords.
The dispute also reached the Second Local Police Court of Temuco after Banco de Chile sued the customer so that they would be declared responsible and return the funds that had already been reimbursed. On 17 August 2026, that court rejected the suit after concluding that no fraud or serious negligence on their part was proved. The sentence became final on 31 August and ordered the removal of the charges or the reimbursement of the corresponding funds, with adjustments and interest.
In ruling on the protection appeal, the Temuco Court of Appeals established that the bank could not exercise collection while the user's responsibility was being judicially disputed. The ruling noted that acting as if that responsibility had already been established constitutes "a form of self-help".
The Court described the bank's actions as "illegal and arbitrary" and determined that they affected the customer's property rights. Consequently, it ordered Banco de Chile to immediately cease all extrajudicial debt collection related to the unrecognised transactions and refrain from applying interest, commissions or expenses associated with them.
Furthermore, the ruling provides that, within a period of ten working days, the entity must delete the delinquency records and invalidate the restrictions on the customer's financial products, insofar as they are based exclusively on those transactions. The sentence was drafted by judge Álvaro Mesa Latorre.
Source: Google News CL — Crime