Not upheld: scam/fraud - refund claim and service complaint complaint against Barclays Bank UK Plc

Decision detail

Summary

Mr D paid £1,778.10 for flight tickets via debit card to Company B, which subsequently demanded additional payment and disappeared, leading him to believe he was scammed. He requested Barclays stop the pending payment and raise a chargeback, but was initially told to wait until the flight departure date. Barclays eventually raised a chargeback which was declined by the card scheme after Company B provided evidence of service. The ombudsman found Barclays had no obligation to intervene in the payment as it was not unusual given the customer's prior transaction history and was an isolated payment, and that the chargeback delay did not impact the outcome. The complaint was not upheld, though Barclays' £100 goodwill payment for incorrect information about chargeback timing was deemed reasonable.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman applied a two-part analysis: first, whether Barclays should have intervened to prevent the payment based on PSR and Consumer Duty obligations; second, whether Barclays failed in recovery efforts. On intervention, the ombudsman found the payment amount was not unusual given Mr D's transaction history (previous £1,522.57 travel payment and £2,000 payments to family), it was an isolated transaction without typical scam patterns, and banks cannot be expected to intervene on every payment. On recovery, while Barclays delayed raising the chargeback, they ultimately did so within the required timeframe and the delay did not impact the outcome. The chargeback was declined by the card scheme based on Company B's evidence of service provision, a decision outside Barclays' control.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website