Not upheld: authorised push payment (APP) scam / refusal to refund complaint against Barclays Bank UK PLC

Decision detail

Summary

Mr H fell victim to an APP scam in September 2025 when a scammer posing as a Barclays employee convinced him to transfer £1,100 to a new account with app 'Y', from which the funds were subsequently sent on. Mr H reported the scam to Barclays, which refused to refund him. The ombudsman found that Mr H authorised the payment by completing the necessary steps from his own device, and that the FPS Reimbursement Rules did not apply because the funds were sent to an account Mr H could access. Although sympathetic to Mr H's situation, the ombudsman concluded that Barclays acted reasonably and was not at fault for the loss, as the payment was not suspicious based on account usage and an appropriate scam warning was displayed.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman concluded that the payment was authorised by Mr H as he completed the steps to make and confirm the payment from his own device, and his contemporaneous account to Barclays supported this. Although Mr H was tricked into making the payment, authorisation under the Payment Services Regulations does not require informed consent. The FPS Reimbursement Rules do not apply because the funds were sent to an account to which Mr H had access. Barclays was not at fault for not preventing the loss, as the payment did not appear suspicious based on Mr H's account usage, and Barclays had displayed an appropriate scam warning. The funds could not have been recovered once sent on from the Y account.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website