Not upheld: scam reimbursement - APP scam claim complaint against Bank of Scotland plc trading as Halifax

Decision detail

Summary

Mr S made a £2,000 payment to a friend (Person A) in June 2021 for investment in cryptocurrency through Company A, which he later claimed was a scam. Halifax declined to reimburse the funds, and Mr S complained. The ombudsman found the payment does not meet the Contingent Reimbursement Model Code definition of an APP scam because Mr S made no allegation that Person A acted fraudulently and their purposes aligned. The payment was also not unusual compared to Mr S's typical account usage, so Halifax was not obliged to intervene. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The CRM Code requires that for an APP scam, the payment must be made to another person for what they believed were legitimate purposes but which were in fact fraudulent. Since Mr S made no allegation that Person A acted fraudulently and the purposes aligned between payer and beneficiary, the payment does not meet the CRM Code definition. Additionally, the payment was not unusual or suspicious compared to Mr S's typical account usage, so Halifax was not obliged to intervene before releasing it.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website