Not upheld: romance scam fraud and bank's duty to intervene complaint against Santander UK Plc

Decision detail

Summary

Mrs S lost over £30,000 through a romance scam where she was groomed by an online influencer and manipulated into purchasing TikTok coins to support him in live battles. She complained to Santander seeking reimbursement, arguing the bank should have intervened to question the unusual payment pattern. The ombudsman found that while Mrs S was heavily manipulated, the payments were authorised, went to a legitimate merchant via a legitimate processor, and were not sufficiently suspicious to require intervention. Even if Santander had questioned the payments, the ombudsman concluded it would likely not have prevented the losses given Mrs S's strong emotional attachment to the influencer and her rejection of warnings from others. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman concluded that while Mrs S was heavily manipulated, the payments were authorised (she knew money was leaving her account), went to a legitimate merchant via a legitimate processor, and were not particularly suspicious in pattern. Although Santander could have questioned the payments during periods of increased intensity, the ombudsman found it would be speculative to conclude such intervention would have prevented losses. Given the strength of Mrs S's emotional attachment to the influencer and her rejection of warnings from others, the ombudsman reasoned that contact from Santander would likely not have persuaded her to stop sending money. The ombudsman also noted that recovery through chargeback or APP fraud schemes was not available in these circumstances.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website