Not upheld: scam and fraud - refund claim for investment scam payments complaint against HSBC UK Bank Plc

Decision detail

Summary

Mr A was scammed by someone impersonating a friend and made two payments totalling £520 to a MoonPay cryptocurrency exchange account in his own name in September 2025. He reported the scam to HSBC in October 2025 and requested a refund, which HSBC declined. The ombudsman upheld HSBC's decision, finding that the payments were not sufficiently unusual compared to Mr A's normal account usage to warrant intervention, that HSBC had displayed a scam warning before the second payment, and that there were no reasonable prospects for recovery through chargeback or other means.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman applied the principle that customers are generally responsible for payments they authorize, but banks may conduct fraud checks in appropriate circumstances. The ombudsman concluded that the two payments totalling £520 were not sufficiently unusual compared to Mr A's normal account usage to warrant HSBC intervention. While cryptocurrency payments carry fraud risk, not all such payments should be automatically blocked. The ombudsman noted that HSBC displayed a scam warning before the second payment, which Mr A chose to ignore. Regarding recovery, the first payment (by card) had limited chargeback prospects as Mr A received the service paid for (access to a legitimate exchange), and the second payment (faster payment to Mr A's own account) offered no reasonable recovery options.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website