Key points:
- Failure to verify banking details led to costly consequences for the buyer in a cyber-fraud scheme.
- The court reaffirmed that the responsibility for secure payment lies with the payer.
- The ruling urges all businesses to double-check electronic transfers before clicking “send.”
When a car dealership lost nearly R300 000 to online scammers, it thought the problem was someone else’s to solve.
However, the Supreme Court of Appeal says otherwise, pinning the blame not on the crooks, but on the buyer who failed to double-check payment details. It’s a cautionary tale of how a simple click in the digital age can cost more than just money.
The trouble started when Hyundai Louis Trichardt purchased two Nissan NP200s from Intengo Imoto, trading as Northcliff Nissan. Intengo emailed its invoice, complete with banking details. But by the time Hyundai paid, those details had been secretly altered by cybercriminals.
This type of scam, known as Business Email Compromise, is a growing global threat where attackers intercept legitimate emails and reroute payments to fraudulent accounts. Despite its increasing prevalence, many businesses remain ill-prepared.
In this case, the payment of R290,000 was successfully made; just not to Intengo. The funds vanished into a scammer’s account, and Hyundai, assuming the matter closed, considered its end of the deal done. But Intengo never received a cent.
Court shifts the risk and the lesson
When the issue went to court, a central question was who shoulders the loss when fraud targets a transaction mid-flight.
The regional court initially ruled in favour of Intengo, citing Hyundai’s failure to verify the banking information it acted on. That ruling was later reversed by the Limpopo High Court in Thohoyandou. Eventually, the dispute landed before South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal.
Their answer was unambiguous. “Payment into a different account…without verifying Intengo’s banking details, did not release Hyundai of its payment obligation,“ the Supreme Court concluded.
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