Not upheld: Cifas fraud marker registration and account closure complaint against THE COOPERATIVE BANK P.L.C

Decision detail

Summary

Mr S complained that Co-Op unfairly registered his details with Cifas and closed his account following an attempted fraudulent payment of £19,999 into his account in May 2024. Mr S claimed he had no knowledge of the payment and was not involved in any fraudulent activity. However, the ombudsman found Mr S's account was used to attempt to receive fraudulent funds and his responses were inconsistent and evasive, initially denying he opened the account and later failing to answer Co-Op's questions fully. The ombudsman concluded it was more likely than not that Mr S knew the payment was or might be fraudulent and found Co-Op acted fairly in registering the Cifas marker and closing the account. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that Co-Op had reasonable grounds to believe fraud or financial crime had been attempted, supported by clear and rigorous evidence. Mr S's inconsistent statements about whether he opened the account, his failure to answer Co-Op's questions fully, and his apparent reluctance to distance himself from the account suggested he had concerns about the attempted payment. The ombudsman found it unlikely that an unknown third party would randomly use Mr S's account details without first knowing they could retrieve funds, and concluded it was more likely than not that Mr S knew the payment was or might be fraudulent.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website