Not upheld: Fraud reimbursement (APP scams) complaint against National Westminster Bank Public Limited Company (NatWest)

Decision detail

Summary

Mr H lost approximately £230,000 to an investment scam through 28 payments made from his NatWest account between April and July 2025. He requested NatWest refund the losses, claiming the bank should have prevented the scam. NatWest and Mr H's other account provider had intervened multiple times with warnings about investment scams, but Mr H ignored these and provided misleading answers about the purpose of payments. The ombudsman found NatWest took proportionate steps and could not have prevented the scam given Mr H's deliberate deception. The complaint was not upheld as funds cannot be recovered under the APP scheme and NatWest was not required to invoke the banking protocol without certainty of actual fraud.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

NatWest was required to take proportionate steps to protect customers from fraud through monitoring and warnings. While NatWest and the other provider did intervene with appropriate warnings about investment scams, Mr H ignored these warnings and actively provided misleading information to circumvent controls. The ombudsman found NatWest could not have uncovered or prevented the scam given Mr H's deliberate deception. Banking protocol was not required as NatWest lacked sufficient certainty of actual scam. Funds cannot be recovered under APP scheme as they were sent to account in Mr H's own name.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website