Not upheld: Fraud reimbursement (APP scams) complaint against Santander UK Plc

Decision detail

Summary

Mr Y complained that Santander declined to refund transactions he claimed he did not authorize, made on 16 January 2026 to a gambling merchant. Santander's technical logs showed Mr Y's card was added to the merchant's wallet on 15 January 2026 using his mobile banking app after receiving an OTP on his genuine device. The ombudsman found that the consistent use of a single device with consistent IP address, the requirement for biometric authentication, and Mr Y's previous similar payments to the same gambling merchant all indicated he had authorized the transactions. The ombudsman concluded there was no plausible explanation for how an unauthorized third party could have accessed Mr Y's secured device and account, and therefore did not uphold the complaint.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman concluded that the technical evidence strongly supported that only Mr Y could have authorized the transactions. The device security (passcode and biometrics), consistent device and IP address usage, and the requirement for biometric authentication made unauthorized third-party access implausible. Additionally, the pattern of payments to a gambling merchant where Mr Y held an account and had previously made similar payments, combined with the lack of any plausible explanation from Mr Y for how a third party could have accessed his device and bypassed security, led to the conclusion that Mr Y authorized the transactions himself.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website