Not upheld: scam reimbursement / fraud complaint against Nationwide Building Society

Decision detail

Summary

Mr and Mrs N complained that Nationwide Building Society failed to reimburse over £40,000 they claim to have lost to a cryptocurrency investment scam involving business H between 2021 and 2022. They made payments from their Nationwide account to cryptocurrency wallets they controlled before transferring funds to H. The ombudsman found that while H was indeed operating as a scam with FCA warnings in place, Mr and Mrs N provided insufficient evidence to establish a clear link between their specific payments and the scam. Critical documentation was missing, including cryptocurrency wallet statements, communications with scammers, and properly dated evidence linking H app screenshots to their account. The complaint was not upheld due to lack of sufficient documentary evidence beyond the consumers' testimony.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman could not establish a sufficient causal link between the payments made and the specific scam described. Critical evidence was missing: cryptocurrency wallet statements showing where funds went after receipt, communications with the scammers explaining the purpose of payments, and dated documentation clearly linking the H app screenshots to Mr and Mrs N's specific account and the disputed transactions. Without this documentary evidence beyond the consumers' testimony, the ombudsman could not reasonably hold Nationwide liable for the claimed loss.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website