Not upheld: scam/fraud - reimbursement claim complaint against Metro Bank PLC

Decision detail

Summary

Mr and Mrs P claimed reimbursement from Metro Bank for over £2,700 lost to a scam in 2024. The investigator and ombudsman reviewed the account and payment patterns. The ombudsman found that while firms should be alert to fraud, the payments made to the scam were not suspicious enough to warrant Metro making additional checks before processing them. The highest payment of £2,500 was not uncharacteristically large, and other payments were lower in value. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman considered whether the payments should have raised fraud concerns with Metro. The highest payment of £2,500, while substantial, was not so large as to be uncharacteristic of the account's previous spending patterns. The other payments were much lower in value. Therefore, the payments would not have been flagged by Metro's fraud alert systems or warranted intervention.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website