Not upheld: scam and fraud - refund of authorised payment complaint against Santander UK Plc

Decision detail

Summary

Mrs O was scammed into purchasing £1,000 worth of gift cards and sending the details to a fraudster, resulting in an £825 loss after a partial refund from the department store. She requested Santander refund the loss, but Santander refused on the basis that Mrs O had authorised the payment. The Ombudsman upheld Santander's position, finding that while Mrs O was clearly a scam victim, she had authorised the transaction using her genuine card and PIN, and the transaction was not so unusual as to require Santander to intervene. The complaint was not upheld and no refund was ordered.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

Although Mrs O was clearly the victim of a scam, she had authorised the payment using her genuine card and PIN. Under the Payment Services Regulations 2017, Santander can generally hold customers liable for authorised transactions. While banks should intervene in some circumstances, the £1,000 transaction to a well-known department store was not so unusual as to require intervention, particularly given Mrs O's account activity. The fact that bulk-buying gift cards is a common scam does not mean Santander should have known what Mrs O was purchasing from the transaction details alone.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website