Not upheld: scam reimbursement / APP fraud claim complaint against Barclays Bank UK PLC

Decision detail

Summary

Mrs P complained that Barclays refused to reimburse £5,000 she transferred to Mr C on 27 January 2022, which she later believed was a romance scam. She had known Mr C since 2017 with regular contact from 2020, and believed the money was for a pub purchase with expected repayment within a week. In 2025, after learning of another alleged victim and Mr C's arrest, she reported the matter to Action Fraud and requested reimbursement. The ombudsman upheld Barclays' decision, finding insufficient evidence that Mr C intended to defraud her from the outset, as the relationship was atypical of a romance scam and the circumstances could have other explanations. The complaint was not upheld as the transaction did not meet the CRM Code definition of an APP scam and was classified as a private civil dispute.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that while Mrs P lost money that was not repaid, there was insufficient evidence to demonstrate that Mr C intended to defraud her from the outset. The circumstances were atypical of a romance scam given the multi-year relationship, regular contact before any money request, apparent in-person meetings, and provision of event tickets. Although Mr C later acted dishonestly by not repaying the funds, this could have other explanations such as financial difficulty. The arrest and alleged second victim, occurring three years later, do not provide clear evidence of fraudulent intent at the time of the original transaction. The CRM Code definition of an APP scam requires proof that the customer was induced to transfer money for a legitimate purpose which was in fact fraudulent, and this threshold was not met.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website