Upheld: authorised push payment (APP) scam - failure to reimburse complaint against Nationwide Building Society
Financial Ombudsman decision DRN-6231493 of 2026-04-16T00:00:00+00:00. authorised push payment (APP) scam - failure to reimburse complaint against Nationwide Building Society. Outcome: Upheld.
Decision detail
| Reference | DRN-6231493 |
|---|---|
| Decision date | 2026-04-16T00:00:00+00:00 |
| Firm | Nationwide Building Society |
| Product | investment |
| Claim type | authorised push payment (APP) scam - failure to reimburse |
| Outcome | Upheld |
| Remedy | Pay Miss D £9,265 plus 8% simple interest per year from 4 February 2026 until settlement. Nationwide may take assignment of rights to future distributions from Official Receiver and police investigations to avoid double recovery. |
Summary
Miss D invested £15,250 in a Rent-to-Rent Agreement with Company S in January 2024, expecting monthly returns of £665 for 36 months. She received returns for nine months before the company's directors were arrested in January 2025 and the company entered liquidation in July 2025, resulting in a loss of £9,265. Miss D claimed reimbursement from Nationwide under the CRM Code for an APP scam. The ombudsman upheld the complaint, finding that Company S had obtained Miss D's funds through dishonest deception by misrepresenting how funds would be used, falsely claiming property ownership, and operating a Ponzi scheme structure. Nationwide was ordered to reimburse £9,265 plus 8% interest from 4 February 2026.
The Ombudsman's reasoning
The ombudsman determined that Miss D met the definition of an APP scam victim under the CRM Code because Company S obtained her funds through dishonest deception for purposes fundamentally different from those she believed. The collective evidence demonstrated Company S was operating a scam rather than a failed legitimate investment, including misrepresentation of how funds would be used, false claims about property ownership and agreements, and a Ponzi scheme structure. No exceptions to reimbursement applied as Miss D had a reasonable basis for believing Company S was genuine and no effective warnings were provided.
How this compares
| Group | Decisions | Uphold rate |
|---|---|---|
| Nationwide Building Society, all decisions | 13,251 | 21% |
Source
Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website