Not upheld: Fraud reimbursement (APP scams) complaint against TIDE PLATFORM LTD

Decision detail

Summary

S, a business customer of Tide Platform Ltd, invested funds through their Tide account into an investment company 'T' that promised 7% monthly returns in forex and commodities. S made payments totalling £11,100 from their Tide account between March and January 2023, with additional payments from other accounts. S later discovered 'T' had converted their funds into its own cryptocurrency without consent, and communication ceased when the cryptocurrency 'crashed'. S complained to Tide, arguing it should have questioned the payments and prevented the loss. Tide refused to refund the loss. The ombudsman found that while S believed 'T' was a scam, there was insufficient evidence to prove fraud, 'T' was legitimately regulated overseas, the payments were consistent with account activity, and any proportionate intervention would not have prevented the loss given S's strong conviction in the investment's legitimacy.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that while S believed 'T' was a scam, there was insufficient evidence to prove this met the legal threshold for fraud. 'T' was regulated in an overseas jurisdiction and remained regulated, which made it unlikely to be a deliberate scam. The £100 payment was too low to flag as suspicious, and the £10,000 payment was consistent with S's normal account activity. Crucially, even if Tide had intervened proportionately, the ombudsman found it unlikely this would have prevented the loss, as S was convinced 'T' was legitimate, had conducted their own research, received returns, and was actively engaged with the investment community around 'T'. Any concerns raised by Tide would likely have been allayed by Mr C or other investors.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website