Not upheld: scam reimbursement claim under Authorised Push Payment (APP) rules complaint against Rightcard Payment Services Limited trading as Lemfi

Decision detail

Summary

Mr K paid £5,000 to O, a work colleague, towards purchasing and repairing a car, believing it was a 2019 model based on images and details provided. O actually purchased a 2017 model, which Mr K discovered after payment. Although O admitted the error immediately and agreed to repair the car under their original agreement, the repairs were not completed and Mr K eventually lost possession of the car without receiving a refund. Mr K claimed this was a scam and requested reimbursement from Lemfi under the Authorised Push Payment Reimbursement Rules. The ombudsman found the circumstances constituted a private civil dispute rather than an APP scam, as the evidence suggested misunderstanding rather than dishonest deception, and therefore upheld Lemfi's decision to decline reimbursement.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that while Mr K believed he was paying for a 2019 car, the evidence showed O had sent images of two different blue cars with the same specification details twice, making it a misunderstanding rather than dishonest deception. O admitted his error immediately, did not hide the purchase of the 2017 model, and agreed to repair it under the original agreement. There was insufficient evidence that O intended to dishonestly deceive Mr K or that the payment was made for a purpose Mr K did not intend. The circumstances constituted a private civil dispute rather than an APP scam as defined in the Reimbursement Rules.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website