Not upheld: Fraud reimbursement (APP scams) complaint against Wise Payments Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mr W lost £5,000 to an investment scam after downloading remote access software and being convinced to transfer money to what he believed was his own overseas account. Wise sent Mr W automated questions and warnings about the suspicious payment (made on the day the account opened, for a large amount, to an overseas payee), but Mr W provided inaccurate responses, stating no one else had access to his device and he had not been coached, when scammers actually had remote access and had advised him to ignore warnings. The ombudsman found Wise's intervention was proportionate and that better intervention was unlikely to have succeeded given Mr W had been sufficiently manipulated to ignore Wise's warnings and provide false information. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

While Wise should have been on the lookout for APP scams and intervene proportionately, the firm's intervention through automated questions and warnings was appropriate given the risk factors present (new account, significant amount, overseas payee). The intervention was not excessive as the payment was not so large or clearly matching known fraud patterns to warrant person-to-person contact. Critically, Mr W's responses to Wise's questions were not wholly accurate - he said no one else had access to his device and he had not been coached, when in fact scammers had remote access and had advised him to ignore warnings. The scam succeeded because Mr W was sufficiently manipulated to ignore Wise's warnings and provide false information, not because Wise failed in its obligations. Better intervention is unlikely to have been effective given the sophistication of the manipulation.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website