Not upheld: scam and fraud - refund claim complaint against Santander UK Plc

Decision detail

Summary

Mr U complained that Santander should refund payments he made between August 2023 and December 2024 to someone he knew from school, claiming he was coerced through threats of physical violence and legal action into paying for vehicle damage. Santander investigated and determined this was a civil dispute rather than a scam, declining to refund the payments. The ombudsman upheld Santander's decision, finding that despite multiple requests for evidence, Mr U provided insufficient documentation to establish he was victim of a scam, as the messages and records provided did not clearly show what the payments were for or that he was misled about their purpose.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that despite multiple requests for evidence, Mr U failed to provide sufficient information to establish he was victim of a scam. The screenshots provided did not show what the payments were for, what Mr U was told about their purpose, or which threats related to which payments. Without clear evidence of misrepresentation or deception regarding the purpose of the payments, the ombudsman could not conclude a scam occurred or that Mr U suffered a loss as a result of fraud.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website