Not upheld: scam / fraud loss recovery complaint against Wise Payments Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mr R complained to Wise Payments Limited after losing over £13,000 to an international romance scam in 2025. Over two months, he made numerous authorised international payments from his Wise account to accounts controlled by a scammer. When Mr R reported the scam to Wise in 2026, approximately three months after the activity finished, Wise attempted to recover the funds but found they had already been depleted by the receiving firm. The ombudsman did not uphold the complaint, finding that Mr R authorised the payments and was liable under the Payment Services Regulations, that Wise was not required to intervene as the payments were consistent with the account's established use, and that Wise could not reasonably have recovered the funds as they had already been moved by the scammer.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

Although Mr R fell victim to a cruel scam, he authorised the payments under the Payment Services Regulations and is liable for his own payments in the first instance. Wise had an obligation to follow his instructions and to look out for potentially fraudulent payments, but a balance must be struck between fraud prevention and minimal disruption to legitimate payments. The payments were not unusual enough for this account to warrant intervention, as they were consistent with the account's established purpose and Mr R's prior transaction patterns. Regarding recovery, Wise attempted to reclaim funds three months after the scam was reported, but scammers typically move money quickly, and the receiving firm confirmed no funds remained. As these were international payments not covered by UK schemes or rules, there was nothing more Wise could reasonably have done to recover the money.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website