Partially upheld: irresponsible payment processing and failure to prevent fraud complaint against Wise Payments Limited

Decision detail

Summary

S, a limited company, complained that Wise Payments Limited declined to refund money lost in an impersonation scam where a fraudster impersonating Wise's fraud team persuaded Mr M (S's director) to increase spending limits, share security information including CVV and OTPs, and approve a £32,520 payment to an online merchant. The ombudsman upheld the complaint but found the payment was technically authorised and that both parties bore responsibility. While Wise should have intervened given the transaction's size and out-of-character nature, Mr M contributed through negligence by ignoring red flags and not reading security warnings. The ombudsman ordered Wise to refund 50% of the payment (£16,260) plus interest, with liability shared equally.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

While the payment was technically authorised under the Payment Services Regulations 2017 because Mr M confirmed it via in-app prompts after unfreezing the card, Wise failed in its obligation to remain alert to fraud risk and should have intervened given the transaction size and out-of-character nature. However, Mr M also bore responsibility through contributory negligence: he ignored red flags including being asked to share the CVV (which he acknowledged felt wrong), failed to read SMS warnings about not sharing security codes, accepted implausible explanations for increasing spending limits rather than restricting them, and shared three OTPs without fully reading the associated information while driving. Balancing both parties' roles, equal liability (50/50) is fair.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website