Rabobank has been ordered to refund almost €6,000 to an elderly woman who was the victim of pin card fraud, following intervention by the financial services complaints panel Kifid.

The bank had refused to compensate the woman, arguing she was guilty of ‘gross negligence’ in allowing someone to monitor her pin code and take her bank card.

However, the complaints panel said the case showed all the signs of ‘refined criminality’ which ‘the average consumer – let alone a consumer with physical or other limitations – would not be able to counteract’.

‘There is no evidence of gross negligence in the use of the bank card, pin code secrecy or reporting the card as missing,’ the panel said.

The woman, who uses a walking aid, used her card to withdraw cash from an ATM in a shop and had been allowed to jump the queue by another woman. When she got home, she realised her card had been stolen. She later found out over €5,800 had been withdrawn from her account in a number of transactions, mostly via ATMs.

Rabobank offered her €1,000 in compensation, which she refused.

Since January last year all banks are required by law to refund money stolen from bank accounts unless they can prove ‘serious negligence’. Clients have to pick up the bill for the first €150.