Not upheld: Fraud reimbursement (APP scams) complaint against Wirex Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mr A complained that Wirex Limited refused to reimburse funds he lost after instructing payments to an account he did not recognize. Mr A claimed he was a victim of fraud. However, technical evidence showed Mr A manually entered the destination account details during the payment process, and the Confirmation of Payee system confirmed the account was in Mr A's own name. The ombudsman found Mr A had authorized the payments and provided no viable evidence of fraud. Wirex was legally required to execute the authorized payment instructions and made reasonable attempts to investigate. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that Mr A authorized the payments and manually entered the destination account details, which were in his own name as confirmed by the Confirmation of Payee system. There was no evidence of fraud or unauthorized access. Wirex was legally obligated under the Payment Services Regulations 2017 to execute authorized payment instructions and made no error in doing so. Even if Mr A had erroneously paid an account he did not control, Wirex had no liability as it followed his instruction and attempted to investigate through the receiving bank. Wirex's service in seeking clarification from Mr A before responding was reasonable.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website