Not upheld: Fraud reimbursement (APP scams) complaint against Wise Payments Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mr M complained to Wise Payments Limited seeking a refund of funds he claimed to have lost through a social media investment scam. Mr M alleged he found a genuine-looking investment opportunity, made payments, appeared to profit initially, but when attempting withdrawal was asked for further payments and realised he had been scammed. The Investigator did not uphold the complaint, and the ombudsman upheld this decision because Mr M failed to provide sufficient evidence of the scam or resulting loss despite multiple requests, making it impossible to reasonably require Wise to refund the payments.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman determined that it is Mr M's responsibility to provide appropriate evidence to support his version of events and the losses he claims to have incurred. Despite multiple requests from the Investigator for evidence supporting the scam claim and resulting loss, Mr M failed to provide sufficient evidence. Without adequate evidence of the scam and the loss resulting from it, the ombudsman could not reasonably ask Wise to refund the disputed payments.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website