Not upheld: scam - unauthorized payments / payment processor liability complaint against Settlego Solutions Limited trading as OpenPayd

Decision detail

Summary

Mr J was scammed and tricked into transferring €2,598 and €9,900 to an account linked to SSL in December 2024. He contacted SSL in March 2025 seeking recovery assistance. SSL explained they provided virtual IBAN services to a regulated Canadian firm (P) and that the funds went to one of P's customers. The ombudsman found SSL not responsible for the loss, as their involvement was limited to providing payment services to a legitimate regulated client, they had no oversight of that client's customer accounts, and the complaint was made too late for fund recovery to be likely.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

SSL's involvement was limited to providing virtual IBAN services to a legitimate regulated client (P). SSL had no responsibility for or oversight of P's customer accounts. The usual process for reporting scam payments is through the sending bank, not the payment processor. Even if SSL should have treated Mr J's March 2025 contact as a scam allegation, this would not have been causal to the loss as it occurred three months after the transfers, and funds are typically moved quickly in scam cases, making recovery unlikely.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website