Not upheld: fraud claim refusal - scam investment complaint against Nationwide Building Society

Decision detail

Summary

Miss C complained that Nationwide refused to refund her claimed loss of £81,152.18 from a scam investment with company H. Between March 2021 and January 2023, Miss C made payments totalling over £221,000 to H, including over £139,000 received from third parties whom she acted as a conduit for. Miss C received returns/withdrawals from H totalling over £140,000. The ombudsman found that Miss C had not personally suffered a financial loss because her total credits exceeded her total payments, and that the financial loss was suffered by the third parties, not Miss C. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman applied the starting position that firms must process authorised payments in accordance with regulations and account terms. The key issue was whether Miss C had personally suffered a financial loss. The evidence showed that Miss C's total credits (£288,000+) exceeded her total payments to H (£222,000+), meaning she had not suffered a personal loss. The ombudsman found that all credits Miss C received from H related to her personal investment, not returns on behalf of third parties, since she had not repaid the third parties. Without evidence of personal loss, the complaint could not be upheld even if Nationwide should have intervened.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website