Not upheld: scam - failure to prevent fraud complaint against Barclays Bank UK PLC

Decision detail

Summary

Mr M fell victim to an employment scam in December 2023 after receiving unsolicited contact via messenger, paying over £2,000 to unlock tasks and receive promised earnings. Barclays partially refunded £1,445.91 and awarded £75 compensation, but Mr M sought full reimbursement. The ombudsman rejected the complaint, finding the payments were not sufficiently suspicious to warrant Barclays' intervention, that no clear vulnerability indicators were apparent to the bank, and that Mr M bore contributory responsibility for failing to recognise obvious red flags such as having to pay money to access funds he believed he had already earned.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman applied the Payment Services Regulations 2017, which presume the customer is liable for authorised payments in the first instance. While banks should monitor for fraud and take additional steps in some circumstances, there must be a balance between protecting customers and not unnecessarily disrupting legitimate transactions. The payments in this case were not of sufficient value or frequency to appear suspicious. Although Mr M was in a vulnerable situation, there was no pattern that would have highlighted this to Barclays. The ombudsman also noted that contributory negligence applies where the complainant's actions jointly led to losses, and Mr M should have recognised red flags such as having to spend money to obtain funds he believed he had already earned.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website