Not upheld: Fraud reimbursement (APP scams) complaint against WorldRemit Ltd

Decision detail

Summary

Mr S, who ran a football academy in Africa, made multiple payments via WorldRemit between March and December 2023 to an individual on instructions from a football federation founder regarding sponsorship of a European tournament. The tournament was delayed multiple times and ultimately did not take place, and Mr S sought reimbursement claiming he was victim of a scam. WorldRemit attempted an account review in June 2023 but Mr S did not respond. The ombudsman found the individual payments were not unusual enough to warrant intervention, each being relatively low in value and spread over nine months without escalating pattern, and that WorldRemit acted reasonably in processing the authorized transactions. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that while Mr S paid a significant total amount, each individual payment was relatively low in value, spread over nine months, with no pattern of increasing values. The payments were not unusual enough to require WorldRemit to intervene. Although WorldRemit attempted an account review in June 2023 requesting relevant information, Mr S did not respond, and even if he had, it was unlikely WorldRemit would have had sufficient concern to prevent further payments. The ombudsman noted uncertainty about whether this was fraudulent inducement or a breakdown in the relationship between Mr S and B, but did not need to decide this point as the firm acted reasonably in processing the transactions.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website