Not upheld: scam/fraud - authorised push payment - refund claim complaint against Barclays Bank UK PLC

Decision detail

Summary

Mr C complained that Barclays refused to refund €1,000 (£888) he paid for goods that he believed were part of a scam. The payment was made to an overseas account after a shipping problem and request for additional payment. Barclays declined to refund, treating it as a civil dispute. The ombudsman found the payment was not covered under the Faster Payments Scheme reimbursement rules because the destination account was not in the UK. Additionally, the transaction was not sufficiently unusual or suspicious to warrant Barclays intervening before processing the authorised payment. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman applied the reimbursement rules which require the destination account to be a UK account for coverage. As the payment was to a non-UK account, the reimbursement rules did not apply. Outside these rules, the ombudsman considered whether Barclays should have intervened before processing the authorised payment. The transaction was not sufficiently suspicious to warrant intervention: it was a one-off payment to a new overseas payee (not uncommon), the amount was within previous spending patterns, the account was not drained, and the currency difference alone was insufficient. The ombudsman balanced the need to identify potentially fraudulent payments against minimising disruption to legitimate transactions.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website