Not upheld: scam - failure to prevent payment / failure to recover funds complaint against Santander UK Plc

Decision detail

Summary

Mr R lost approximately £5,000 to a purchase scam in September 2025 when he was deceived into making a payment for flight tickets to a legitimate online entity for an unintended destination. He contacted Santander while the payment was still pending, but the bank declined to stop it or provide compensation, though it awarded £125 for service failings. The ombudsman found that while Santander has obligations to monitor for fraud, the individual payment was not sufficiently suspicious to warrant intervention, and there were no sufficient red flags even considering Mr R's customer support markers. Additionally, no valid chargeback claim existed because Mr R had purchased a legitimate service, and Santander could not have stopped an authorised payment. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that while Mr R was a victim of a scam, Santander was not automatically liable for reimbursement. The payment itself was not suspicious enough to warrant intervention - it was of a reasonable value, made to a legitimate entity, and there were no sufficient red flags even considering Mr R's customer support markers. The ombudsman balanced the need for fraud prevention against the impracticality of checking every payment. Additionally, no valid chargeback claim existed because Mr R purchased a legitimate service (albeit not for his own benefit), and Santander could not have stopped a payment once authorisation was given. The Contingent Reimbursement Model Code did not apply as it does not cover card payments.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website