Upheld: Fraud reimbursement (APP scams) complaint against Raylo Group Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mr A complained that Raylo was holding him liable for a hire agreement for an iPad that he did not take out, which he believed was fraudulently created by his grandson in March 2022. Although the iPad was delivered to Mr A's premises, the contact details used for the agreement did not match Mr A's actual details, and Mr A consistently maintained he did not authorize the agreement. The ombudsman upheld the complaint, finding the agreement was taken out fraudulently and that Mr A had not benefitted from it, and instructed Raylo to write off the agreement, cease pursuing payment, and remove it from Mr A's credit record.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that Mr A did not take out the hire agreement and did not benefit from it. While Raylo had undertaken sufficient checks, this does not protect them if the agreement was taken out fraudulently. The ombudsman rejected Raylo's argument that Mr A should have reported the matter to police, noting there is no such requirement and police are reluctant to investigate such cases where there is no obvious financial loss to the customer. The consistent evidence from Mr A, combined with the mismatch between the contact details and Mr A's actual details, satisfied the ombudsman that fraud had occurred.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website