Not upheld: CIFAS fraud marker lodgement - alleged facilitation of third party fraud complaint against HSBC UK Bank plc

Decision detail

Summary

Miss E, a recent arrival to the UK, opened an HSBC account in March 2025 and provided login details to a friend from her home country. In April, HSBC received fraud reports about four payments crediting the account, which were subsequently withdrawn. HSBC closed the account and lodged a CIFAS marker claiming Miss E facilitated third party fraud. Miss E complained, arguing she was a victim and unaware of the misuse. The ombudsman upheld HSBC's decision, finding that chat messages showed Miss E was encouraged to lie in applications from the outset and that she must have known matters were improper when her other account was blocked due to payments made on behalf of the friend, yet she took no action to stop the activity.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that while Miss E claimed she was unaware of the misuse, the chat messages demonstrated she was encouraged to lie in applications from the outset, which should have alerted her that matters were improper. Additionally, when her other account was blocked due to payments made on behalf of the friend, Miss E must have known things were not above board but took no steps to stop the activity. The ombudsman concluded HSBC had sufficient evidence to lodge the marker, particularly given Miss E's apparent knowledge of the irregular nature of the transactions. The ombudsman also noted that Miss E's age was reflected in the marker being limited to three years.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website