Not upheld: disputed transactions / alleged fraud complaint against Nationwide Building Society

Decision detail

Summary

Mr E complained that Nationwide wrongfully declined to refund three disputed transactions totalling £850 made to online gambling merchants on 27 December 2025, which he claimed were fraudulent. Nationwide declined the fraud claim because the transactions were authorised using biometrics in the Nationwide app. The ombudsman found that the pattern of biometric authentication, the timing of account accesses in close proximity to the transactions, and the receipt of winnings back to Mr E's account all indicated that Mr E himself most likely authorised the transactions. Although Mr E raised concerns about his vulnerability and financial difficulties, the ombudsman found no evidence of wrongdoing by Nationwide in declining the fraud claim and upheld Nationwide's decision.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that the pattern of biometric authentication, the timing of transactions, and the receipt of winnings back to Mr E's account all strongly indicated that Mr E himself authorised the transactions. The ombudsman rejected the argument that biometric evidence alone does not prove conscious consent, finding that the overall pattern of access and the lack of any plausible explanation for how an unauthorised third party could have accessed the device, bypassed security, and used registered biometrics made it highly unlikely that fraud occurred. The ombudsman also found that the receipt of winnings back to Mr E's account made no sense if an unauthorised third party had made the transactions.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website