Not upheld: scam reimbursement - investment fraud complaint against Wise Payments Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mr A lost over £7,000 to an investment scam between January and March 2024 through transfers via his Wise account. He complained that Wise should reimburse the funds. The ombudsman found that while Wise has obligations to prevent fraud, the transactions did not display hallmarks of typical investment scams and were not sufficiently unusual to warrant intervention. As a new account, Wise lacked baseline data to identify unusual activity, and the stated payment purpose was consistent with legitimate transfers. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

Wise should identify and prevent sufficiently unusual or uncharacteristic payments to protect customers from fraud. As a new account, Wise lacked baseline activity data. The payments were not made in quick succession typical of investment scams, were spread over months, and were not of remarkable value relative to Wise's transaction volume. The stated payment purpose (friends/family) was consistent with the account opening reason and would have alleviated concerns. Wise provided appropriate warnings and attempted recovery when notified.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website