Not upheld: fraud / scam - refund claim and adequacy of fraud intervention measures complaint against Wise Payments Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mrs T complained to Wise Payments Limited after losing over £30,000 to a fake investment scam between December 2023 and February 2025. She made 18 payments to various individuals after being introduced to the scheme by a colleague, but withheld the true purpose of the payments when questioned by Wise, instead stating they were to friends and family. The ombudsman found insufficient evidence to establish that the payments were lost to the scam, as the dates and amounts in the screenshots did not match the complaint and payments went to individuals not identifiably involved in the scam. The ombudsman also found that Wise acted fairly and reasonably by intervening on six occasions to ask about payment purposes and providing relevant warnings based on Mrs T's responses, concluding that Wise's actions were not the cause of her losses.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman accepted that Mrs T was engaged with scammers and lost money, but found the screenshots and payment records did not establish with certainty that the specific payments in the complaint ended up with the scammers, as they went to various individuals not identifiably involved in the scam and the amounts and dates did not tally. Regarding Wise's conduct, the ombudsman found that Wise's interventions were proportionate given the payment patterns did not clearly indicate investment scams (payments were to different payees, spread over time, and not to cryptocurrency). The ombudsman found Wise's warnings about family and friend scams were relevant based on the information Mrs T provided, and that Mrs T's withholding of the true purpose hampered Wise's ability to provide relevant warnings.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website