Not upheld: unauthorised transaction / fraud liability complaint against Modulr FS Limited (trading as HyperJar Limited)

Decision detail

Summary

Mr A complained that HyperJar refused to refund an unauthorised £80.10 transaction after he had shared his One Time Passcode (OTP) in response to what he believed was a legitimate purchase of a £2.59 chocolate bundle. HyperJar argued the payment was authorised via a digital token set up using the OTP. The ombudsman found Mr A did not authorise the transaction but determined he acted with gross negligence by sharing the OTP despite clear warnings not to do so and despite the messages indicating his card had been added to GPay. The ombudsman rejected Mr A's arguments about the sophistication of the scam and professional appearance of the website, noting he provided no evidence to support these claims. The complaint was not upheld and no refund was ordered.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman accepted that Mr A did not authorise the disputed transaction and that HyperJar had not provided specific evidence showing the token was used for the disputed payment. However, the ombudsman found that Mr A acted with gross negligence by sharing his OTP despite clear warnings not to do so. The messages explicitly stated 'Do not share it with anyone' and indicated the card had been added to GPay, which should have alerted Mr A that something was wrong with a £2.59 purchase. The ombudsman rejected Mr A's arguments about the sophistication of the scam and professional appearance of the website, noting Mr A provided no evidence of these claims. The ombudsman concluded that sharing the OTP represented a very significant degree of carelessness meeting the threshold for gross negligence.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website