Not upheld: scam and fraud liability complaint against Lloyds Bank PLC

Decision detail

Summary

Mr H complained that Lloyds Bank failed to refund over £30,000 he transferred to an online trading platform between July 2023 and November 2024, claiming he was scammed after being promised profits from gold and Bitcoin trading. The investigator and ombudsman both found insufficient evidence that a scam had occurred, noting that the trading platform appeared to be legitimately regulated in Europe and that Mr H had authorised the payments. Although Mr H experienced difficulties withdrawing funds and communicating with the platform, the ombudsman concluded these issues were not sufficiently linked to fraudulent conduct by the platform to hold Lloyds responsible. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman applied the balance of probabilities test given incomplete and inconclusive evidence. The key finding was that Mr H authorised the payments and there was insufficient evidence that the online trading platform was involved in a scam. The ombudsman noted that the trading platform appears to be legitimately regulated in Europe and that the FCA warning Mr H referenced appeared to relate to a different website. The problems Mr H experienced with communication and fund retrieval were not sufficiently linked to a third-party scam, and could represent a disagreement with a regulated trading platform. Without clear evidence of fraud or scam, Lloyds could not be held responsible.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website