Not upheld: investment scam refund claim and alleged failure to protect from scam complaint against National Westminster Bank Public Limited Company (NatWest)

Decision detail

Summary

Mr K complained that NatWest unfairly refused to refund £1,632.04 he lost in an alleged investment scam and refused to compensate him for consequential losses including health deterioration and lost job opportunities. Between December 2023 and March 2024, Mr K made 21 payments from his NatWest account to accounts he controlled, which were then transferred to an external cryptocurrency wallet allegedly controlled by a scammer he met on social media. Mr K claimed NatWest should have intervened to stop the payments and that the refusal to reimburse him caused a chain of events leading to serious debt and health problems. The ombudsman did not uphold the complaint, finding insufficient evidence that Mr K was actually the victim of a scam, as he had deleted key communications with the alleged scammer and provided no supporting evidence of fraudulent claims or misleading statements. Without establishing a scam occurred, the ombudsman could not find NatWest liable for failing to protect him or for his consequential losses.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that while the pattern of payments (multiple low-value transactions to the same payee routed through multiple accounts) and the inability to withdraw funds were consistent with investment scam patterns, Mr K had not provided sufficient supporting evidence of a scam. Critically, Mr K provided no copies of communications from the alleged scammer making misleading claims, promising returns, requesting fees, or otherwise indicating fraudulent activity. The messages Mr K provided from December 2023 related to a different investment opportunity that he did not pursue. Without establishing that a scam actually occurred, the ombudsman could not uphold claims that NatWest failed to protect him from it or should refund his losses. Additionally, Mr K provided no evidence linking his consequential losses (job opportunities, health deterioration) to NatWest's actions rather than other causes.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website