Not upheld: fraud reimbursement - scam victim complaint against Barclays Bank UK PLC

Decision detail

Summary

Miss T fell victim to a sophisticated employment scam where a fraudster posed as a recruiter offering remote work. She was instructed to deposit funds onto a platform to access earnings and took out a personal loan to do so, making payments via cryptocurrency and transfers through her own accounts. Barclays eventually intervened when it identified the cryptocurrency transactions and cancelled one payment, but Miss T continued making payments through other accounts. The ombudsman found Barclays failed to intervene adequately on the unusual transactions but concluded this failure did not cause the loss, as Miss T had been instructed by fraudsters to provide misleading information and continued the payments despite bank intervention.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

While Barclays failed to intervene adequately on unusual cryptocurrency transactions, the ombudsman concluded that the firm's failing was not the effective cause of the loss. The fraudsters had prepared Miss T to respond to bank intervention by instructing her to provide misleading explanations. When Barclays did contact her, she provided false information and continued making payments through other accounts even after Barclays cancelled a payment. The ombudsman found that a more effective intervention would likely not have changed Miss T's behaviour, as she was following fraudster instructions and willing to provide misleading information to ensure payments were made.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website