Not upheld: APP scam claim and refund request complaint against Barclays Bank UK PLC

Decision detail

Summary

Mr O complained that Barclays should refund £5,785 he transferred to a person known as S between March and November 2024, claiming he had been scammed. Mr O stated that S had requested money for various reasons with urgency and emotional manipulation, and that S left the country without repaying him. Barclays declined to refund the payments, classifying the matter as a civil dispute rather than an APP scam. The ombudsman upheld Barclays' decision, finding that while Mr O may have been misled or emotionally manipulated, the evidence did not demonstrate criminal fraud or dishonesty meeting the definition of an APP scam, and the circumstances constituted a private civil dispute more appropriately resolved through civil courts.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman concluded that the payments did not meet the definition of an APP scam under either the CRM Code or FPS Reimbursement Rules because: (1) all payments were made to the intended recipient (S's account); (2) the evidence did not convincingly demonstrate that S fraudulently deceived Mr O about the purpose of the payments or that the purposes differed fundamentally from what Mr O intended; (3) the lack of available correspondence meant there was insufficient evidence to prove criminal fraud or dishonesty; and (4) the circumstances more likely constituted a private civil dispute between Mr O and S regarding an unpaid loan or financial assistance.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website