Not upheld: fraud reimbursement and scam liability complaint against Santander UK Plc

Decision detail

Summary

Mr O complained that Santander failed to reimburse £72.14 lost to a scam via two faster payments sent to his own digital wallet on 28 November 2025. Santander declined the fraud claim, and the ombudsman upheld this decision. Although firms should look for fraud indicators, the ombudsman found the payments were low-value, consistent with Mr O's account activity, occurred over a short period without escalation, and were sent to a destination (digital wallet) that is not inherently suspicious. The ombudsman concluded Santander had no reasonable grounds to identify fraud risk and was entitled to process the authorised payments as instructed.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

While the ombudsman acknowledged that firms should look out for payments indicating fraud risk, Santander was not required to intervene in this case. The disputed payments were low-value, consistent with normal account activity, occurred over a short period without exponential increases, and were sent to a destination (digital wallet) that, while unusual for Mr O, is not inherently suspicious as many such payments are legitimate. The ombudsman found insufficient grounds for Santander to have identified a fraud risk.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website