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

Decision detail

Summary

Mr A complained that Barclays unfairly refused to fully refund £6,250 he claimed to have lost in an investment scam after seeing a social media advertisement and being contacted by someone claiming to represent an investment platform. He made two debit card payments to cryptocurrency accounts in April 2025 and later claimed he was asked to pay fees and taxes to withdraw funds. Barclays refunded 50%, believing Mr A should share responsibility for not researching the investment. The ombudsman did not uphold the complaint, finding insufficient evidence that Mr A was the victim of a scam or that the funds actually reached a scammer, citing missing cryptocurrency account statements and timeline inconsistencies in the evidence provided.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found insufficient evidence to prove Mr A was the victim of a scam or that he suffered loss. While some messages appeared consistent with investment scams, critical gaps existed: no evidence showed the payments reached a scammer (such as cryptocurrency account statements showing funds transferred onwards), the 100 USDT receipt was dated 15 July 2025 (after the April payments, contradicting Mr A's account), and the full circumstances of the alleged scam were unclear. Without proof of actual loss to a scammer, there could be no finding that Barclays failed to prevent a scam.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website