Not upheld: Fraud reimbursement (APP scams) complaint against Allied Irish Banks Plc

Decision detail

Summary

Ms M and Mr S lost £13,734.85 to a travel agency scam, making payments between July 2022 and March 2023. They discovered the scam in late March 2023 when the travel agency ceased operations. AIB refused to refund the online transfers, though it successfully refunded the £1,000 debit card payment via chargeback. Ms M and Mr S complained that AIB should have provided better protection, particularly noting that other banks subscribed to the CRM Code had refunded similar victims. The ombudsman upheld AIB's position, finding that the payments were authorised, presented no suspicious indicators, and that even intervention would likely not have prevented the loss given the professional appearance of the travel agency's documentation and positive reviews.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that AIB was not obligated to follow the CRM Code as it had not voluntarily subscribed to it at the time of the payments. While AIB should have monitoring systems in place, the payments did not present obvious suspicious indicators - they were made in smaller amounts over a long period to an apparently legitimate business with professional documentation and positive reviews. Even if AIB had intervened, Ms M and Mr S would likely have proceeded given the convincing nature of F's representations. AIB made reasonable recovery attempts but funds were withdrawn before action could be taken.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website