Not upheld: Fraud reimbursement (APP scams) complaint against Santander UK Plc

Decision detail

Summary

Mrs S lost £1,000 to an investment scam after making a payment from her Santander account to what she believed was a legitimate investment opportunity found on social media. She complained to Santander and subsequently to the FOS, arguing that Santander should have prevented the payment and recovered her funds. The ombudsman found that the single £1,000 payment was not suspicious enough to warrant intervention by Santander, as it did not have characteristics typical of scam payments and would have appeared legitimate. Additionally, recovery through Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act or chargeback would likely have failed because the payment appeared to have been made to a genuine entity rather than directly to the scammer. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that while Mrs S was a victim of a scam, Santander was not responsible for preventing the payment or recovering the funds. The £1,000 payment was not of a value or nature that would have appeared suspicious to Santander, and there were no common characteristics of scam payments present. Additionally, even if Santander had attempted recovery through Section 75 or chargeback, these would likely have failed because the payment appeared to have been made to a genuine entity rather than directly to the scammer, breaking the debtor-creditor-supplier chain required for Section 75 claims.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website