Not upheld: scam and fraud - failure to intervene on unusual transactions complaint against National Westminster Bank Public Limited Company (NatWest)

Decision detail

Summary

Miss B fell victim to a police impersonation scam where a fraudster convinced her to purchase £2,200 in gift cards under the guise of protecting her funds during a police investigation. NatWest processed the transactions, including querying one final payment, but did not provide meaningful fraud warnings or make targeted enquiries. Although the ombudsman agreed that NatWest should have identified the unusual spending pattern by the fourth payment and intervened more effectively, the complaint was not upheld because the bank's shortcomings were not the effective cause of the loss, given the fraudster's strong influence over Miss B's actions.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

While NatWest failed to intervene appropriately on unusual transactions and should have identified concerns by the fourth payment, the bank's shortcomings were not the effective cause of the loss. The fraudster had significant influence over Miss B, as evidenced by her consulting him before responding to the bank's query. Any warning or enquiry from the bank would likely have been undermined by the fraudster's continued guidance, making it highly unlikely that an effective, tailored warning would have interrupted the scam.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website