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

Decision detail

Summary

Mr G lost £5,272 to an investment scam operated by a cloned version of a legitimate FCA-regulated firm 'I'. He made two authorised faster payments in August 2023 but did not report the scam until July 2024. Mr G complained that AIB should have protected his money by identifying the payments as out of character and intervening. The ombudsman found that the payments did not present characteristics requiring intervention: they were from a savings account with normal infrequent activity, funded by credits from September 2022, and not made in quick succession. AIB's generic fraud warning was adequate, and the bank reasonably followed the customer's authorised instructions. The complaint was not upheld, though AIB recovered £1,130.72 of the lost funds.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that whilst AIB has obligations to monitor accounts and detect fraud, the specific payments in this case did not present characteristics that would reasonably trigger intervention. The payments were from a savings account (where infrequent activity is normal), were funded by credits made months earlier (not rapid movement of funds), were not made in quick succession, and whilst significant to Mr G, were not of such high value as to require additional checks. The generic fraud warning displayed when setting up the payee was adequate. The delay in reporting the scam (11 months) meant recovery was unlikely, though AIB successfully recovered £1,130.72.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website