Not upheld: scam/fraud - failure to prevent and failure to recover funds complaint against Barclays Bank UK PLC

Decision detail

Summary

Mr and Mrs K fell victim to a travel agency scam in December 2025, losing £1,375.46 across two card payments. They complained to Barclays, arguing the bank should have prevented the scam and recovered their funds through chargeback. The ombudsman found that the transaction values were consistent with the customers' previous account activity and therefore not unusual enough to warrant intervention. While Barclays raised chargebacks, these were unsuccessful because the merchant defended them by claiming the flights were available and details were sent to the provided email address. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that while banks should monitor for fraud and unusual transactions, the payments in this case were not so unusual or out of character given the customers' previous account activity. The transaction values were relatively low and in line with prior payments. Barclays acted reasonably by blocking the third payment when it identified a pattern of payments to the same payee within a short timeframe. Regarding recovery, chargebacks were the only option available, and these would not have been successful because the merchant claimed the flights were available and details were sent to the provided email address, meaning the merchant provided the service as claimed.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website