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

Decision detail

Summary

Mr W complained that Barclays failed to refund funds he lost through an investment scam. He claimed he made multiple payments to a trading platform based on communications with a platform representative, initially saw positive returns, but then lost his funds. Barclays did not refund the money. The ombudsman did not uphold the complaint because Mr W failed to provide sufficient evidence of a scam or resulting loss. While Barclays has responsibilities to protect customers from fraud, the ombudsman could only confirm that Mr W transferred funds to a trading platform account; the platform evidence contained no identifying details matching Mr W, and he provided no documentation of what happened to his funds after deposit.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that while Barclays has responsibilities to protect customers from fraud and scams, these responsibilities are predicated on there having been a fraud or scam. The ombudsman could not conclude that Mr W suffered a loss to a scam as described because: (1) Mr W only evidenced moving funds to a trading platform account he held, not that he was scammed; (2) the platform evidence provided contained no identifying details matching Mr W; (3) Mr W provided no evidence of what happened to his funds after deposit; and (4) Mr W confirmed he had nothing further to provide. Without evidence of an actual scam and resulting loss, it would not be fair or reasonable to hold Barclays liable.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website