Not upheld: Fraud reimbursement (APP scams) complaint against Lloyds Bank PLC

Decision detail

Summary

Mr T fell victim to a cryptocurrency investment scam between January 2023 and July 2025, making multiple payments totalling thousands of pounds to both individual accounts and a cryptocurrency exchange after being promised substantial investment returns. He disputed the payments with Lloyds Bank PLC, claiming the bank should have prevented the scam or refunded his losses. The ombudsman found that Lloyds did not miss an opportunity to intervene as the payment pattern was not unusual, and that under the CRM Code exception, Mr T did not have a reasonable basis for believing the payee was legitimate given he was already aware of the scam, the promised returns were implausibly high, negative reviews existed online, and payments were requested to an individual rather than the business. The complaint was not upheld and no refund was ordered.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that while Mr T was authorised the payments, Lloyds had no duty to intervene as the payments were not made in quick succession, were not for significant values that would cause concern, and followed an established pattern of payments to the individual account over several months. Under the CRM Code exception (c), Mr T did not have a reasonable basis for belief that the payee was legitimate because: he had already visited Lloyds and knew of the scam; the promised returns were too good to be true; negative reviews were available online; and he was asked to pay an individual rather than the business itself. The ombudsman concluded that Lloyds made a reasonable decision not to refund under the CRM Code.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website