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

Decision detail

Summary

Mr P lost £20,000 to an investment scam after seeing an advert on social media and being added to an instant messaging group promoting stock trading opportunities. He made a payment from his HSBC account to an online stockbroker and purchased recommended stocks that subsequently lost significant value. HSBC declined to refund the payment, stating it was not unusual activity. The ombudsman found that although HSBC should have monitoring systems in place, Mr P would not have provided accurate information if questioned, as demonstrated by his misleading responses to another bank's intervention on similar payments. Therefore, the ombudsman concluded that no reasonable action by HSBC would have prevented the loss and did not uphold the complaint.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

Although HSBC should have monitoring systems and could have intervened with probing questions, the ombudsman found that Mr P would not have provided accurate or complete information about the circumstances, as evidenced by his misleading responses to the other bank's questions. Even if HSBC had asked reasonable questions and received the false information Mr P provided to the other bank, it would not have had significant concerns about the payment. The warnings given by the other bank did not prevent Mr P from proceeding, so warnings from HSBC would likely have been similarly ineffective.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website