Not upheld: Fraud reimbursement (APP scams) complaint against THE CO-OPERATIVE BANK P.L.C

Decision detail

Summary

Mr G complained that The Co-op should reimburse him for over £12,000 lost to an employment scam in February 2025. He made an initial payment via money transfer service R, which refused the transfer and closed his account due to concerns about the recipient. Mr G then made subsequent payments to a cryptocurrency account in his own name, with The Co-op intervening on some payments through telephone calls. The ombudsman found The Co-op not liable because the reimbursement rules do not apply to payments to accounts in the customer's own name, Mr G was not fully truthful about the purpose of the payments, and evidence showed Mr G actively sought ways to bypass bank fraud controls and proceeded despite warnings from R.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that while Mr G authorised all transactions and was a victim of a cruel scam, The Co-op was not liable because: (1) the Payment Services Regulations 2017 reimbursement rules do not apply to payments to accounts in the customer's own name; (2) although The Co-op intervened on some payments, Mr G was not fully truthful about the purpose of the funds, stating he was buying cryptocurrency for investment rather than disclosing the employment scam; (3) evidence from chat messages shows Mr G actively sought ways to circumvent bank fraud controls and proceeded with alternative payment methods despite warnings from R; (4) any further intervention by The Co-op would likely not have prevented the loss because Mr G would not have provided accurate information about the scam; and (5) the funds could not be recovered as they were moved to scammers via cryptocurrency.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website