© Marc Hoscheid
Dozens of victims of a major scam targeting BIL clients gathered in Mersch on Sunday to coordinate their response. Frustrated by the bank’s refusal to accept responsibility and by political inaction, they are weighing legal steps, while continuing to press for stronger safeguards against fraud.
In July, it was revealed that several clients of BIL had thousands of euros stolen through a scam.
Many of the victims are still trying, unsuccessfully, to recover their money. They cannot understand why the bank has denied all responsibility. On Sunday afternoon, fraud victims held a meeting in Mersch to discuss their next steps.
Around 60 to 70 people attended, including not only victims of the scam but also two MPs: Sven Clement of the Pirate Party and Ben Polidori of the LSAP. The main goal of the meeting was to call on banks to assume responsibility. Participants argued that banks could indeed take measures against fraud, for example by warning customers in advance.
Juliana Mondot, co-organiser of the meeting, said “we are warned when severe weather is coming, we are warned when flooding is coming, when a tornado is on the way – so why aren’t we warned when frauds like this occur? I stress, it’s not just BIL, but most of the people here today are BIL clients.”
Another proposal discussed was the introduction of a security block for unusually large transfers that do not match a client’s profile.
But the responsibility, they added, does not lie with banks alone. Politics also has a role to play, though nothing has been done so far. Victims are still waiting for a final answer to an LSAP parliamentary question.
So far, Minister of Justice Elisabeth Margue has only responded that the matter does not fall within her remit. Finance Minister Gilles Roth has said that Economy Minister Lex Delles is also involved.
Co-organiser Alice Pauly stated:
“This is like a ping-pong game. I was extremely disappointed when I read that the urgency of the parliamentary question was not recognised. And then one passed the ball to the other, as if no one wanted to get their hands dirty. So once again everything falls back on our shoulders. I find it rather sad that we get so little support from our politicians.”
The group now intends to contact consumer protection services and the relevant ministry.
At the same time, legal proceedings are to be launched. BIL itself is also taking legal action, the bank announced in a communiqué on Sunday. It described itself as a victim in the affair and said it would file a complaint with the public prosecutor at the Luxembourg District Court. The bank also reserved the right to join the case as a civil party. This was noted by those at the meeting in Mersch.
“That doesn’t affect us, we’ll continue on our path and see what happens. We could also take joint action with BIL, if they are interested”, Juliana Mondot said.
However, participants questioned why it took BIL so long to file a complaint. According to them, fraud has been occurring regularly at the bank since 2022. New victims are still coming forward, which they said is positive, since they can achieve more together than individually.
