Not upheld: unauthorized transactions / fraud dispute complaint against Nationwide Building Society

Decision detail

Summary

Mr and Mrs M complained that Nationwide Building Society failed to refund three unauthorized euro payments (£14.88 each) made from their joint account via a third-party Payment Services Provider. Nationwide had initiated chargebacks but re-debited the transactions after the provider defended them. The ombudsman found that the Payment Services Provider's evidence showed the transactions were authenticated using Mr M's correct username and password, made from a previously used IP address, and consistent with legitimate transaction patterns. As Mr M could not explain how unauthorized parties obtained his secure login details, the ombudsman concluded it was reasonable for Nationwide to treat the payments as authorized and did not uphold the complaint.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that based on the technical evidence provided by P regarding authentication, IP address consistency, and transaction patterns, it was not unreasonable for Nationwide to treat the payments as authorized. The fact that the transactions used correct login credentials, came from a previously used IP address, and matched the pattern of legitimate transactions meant there was insufficient evidence to support that the payments were fraudulent or unauthorized.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website