Not upheld: Fraud reimbursement (APP scams) complaint against Clydesdale Bank Plc trading as Virgin Money

Decision detail

Summary

Mr C complained that Virgin Money allowed a fraudulent change to his credit card account's telephone number and provided poor service when reinstating his online access after a replacement card was issued. Virgin's investigation found that the fraudster had passed its normal identity checks and that no unauthorized payments were made. The ombudsman found no evidence that Virgin's identification processes were deficient or that Virgin was responsible for the data breach. While acknowledging poor service in the online access reinstatement process, the ombudsman upheld Virgin's £75 compensation as fair and reasonable, and did not uphold the complaint.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that Virgin's security measures functioned appropriately and protected Mr C's account from fraud. The fraudster obtained Mr C's personal information either directly from Mr C or more likely from a data breach by another firm, not from Virgin. Virgin's identification processes were not shown to be deficient, as the fraudster successfully passed normal security checks. While Virgin's service in reinstating online access was substandard, the £75 compensation already paid was fair and reasonable for this inconvenience. No evidence supported that Virgin was responsible for the initial security breach.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website