Will ombudsman help me with scam repayment?

born_again

Shubunkinblue said:

I rang them to clear the decline. 

Then made the payment again?

All you can do is wait out the banks complaint process, hope they change their mind. Which is very doubtful. Unless they pick up staff error.
Not sure how FOS would go on this. As all going to depend on how bank defend it. But it will not be a quick process.

HopeAndDriftWood

Shubunkinblue said:

I rang them to clear the decline. 

I think this will be seen that it declined as a potentially suspicious payment; and you then called up and cleared them to pay it - the systems did what they should do. It didn't let the payment go through.

I'm sorry, it sounds like it was a horrible situation for you. There's been a lot of publicity about this type of scam, and it does play on your parenting instincts. I suspect that the bank will stick with their decision that they automated systems blocked the payment, and they had a conversation with you where you confirmed you wanted to pay it, and gave them authorisation to do so.

I can't see the grounds that the FOS would get involved here, as you've said, sadly the new rules don't apply as it was a bank transfer and the bank did stick to the guidelines and talk to you.

Shubunkinblue

It was an additional payment. 

I said several things which should have acted as red flags but didn't. The second member of the security staff seemed to be under the impression I was speaking to my son at that moment, and I do remember that I stopped and corrected him and said the communication had been done solely via text message. That didn't seem to trigger any additional concerns, which to me is surprising. Maybe I have to pin my hopes on that.

screech_78

Why should it raise red flags to the bank staff when it didn’t seem to raise any red flags with you at the time? 

Aylesbury_Duck

Shubunkinblue said:

It was an additional payment. 

I said several things which should have acted as red flags but didn't. The second member of the security staff seemed to be under the impression I was speaking to my son at that moment, and I do remember that I stopped and corrected him and said the communication had been done solely via text message. That didn't seem to trigger any additional concerns, which to me is surprising. Maybe I have to pin my hopes on that.

I think that is the best you can hope for.

In the meantime, I hope you're getting the support you need in a difficult situation.  Any one of us, no matter how sharp we think we are, is just one highly stressful moment away from making a similar error, and anyone who claims otherwise is complacent.

Tucosalamanca

They're a very fortunate kid.

£1,348 will buy a top-of-the-range iPhone 16 Pro-Max, not many parents would do that, I hope they appreciate what you're willing to do for them. Your heart was in the right place...

Shubunkinblue

screech_78 said:

Why should it raise red flags to the bank staff when it didn’t seem to raise any red flags with you at the time? 

If I'd been in a normal state of mind it would have raised dozens of red flags to me. But I was activated by strong parental protectiveness, stressed about the situation, under time pressure, stressed about forthcoming meetings, stressed about technology failing for one of those meetings, and utterly convinced by the fact that their opening text replicated a situation my son had been in before that the texts were genuine. Given that I communicated in some detail the stressfulness of the context to the two members of the fraud team I spoke to, I would have hoped that they could have seen the red flags even though I couldn't see them myself in the moment.

Shubunkinblue

Tucosalamanca said:

They're a very fortunate kid.

£1,348 will buy a top-of-the-range iPhone 16 Pro-Max, not many parents would do that, I hope they appreciate what you're willing to do for them. Your heart was in the right place...

Aw yes, and my son would never normally spend that much on a phone; I was just so keen to help him immediately that it blew all my normal defences to smithereens. Thank you for your kind words. I've been judging myself so punitively ever since it happens, and kindness means a lot. 

Shubunkinblue

Aylesbury_Duck said:

Shubunkinblue said:

It was an additional payment. 

I said several things which should have acted as red flags but didn't. The second member of the security staff seemed to be under the impression I was speaking to my son at that moment, and I do remember that I stopped and corrected him and said the communication had been done solely via text message. That didn't seem to trigger any additional concerns, which to me is surprising. Maybe I have to pin my hopes on that.

I think that is the best you can hope for.

In the meantime, I hope you're getting the support you need in a difficult situation.  Any one of us, no matter how sharp we think we are, is just one highly stressful moment away from making a similar error, and anyone who claims otherwise is complacent.

Thank you so much. It's so easy to be wise after the event, but the exact timing worked so well for the scammer, as did the fact that my son's clumsiness with phones is legendary. There was so much luck for them in the situation - and I suppose I should feel glad that the amount wasn't larger. People have lost so much more, and it must be truly heart-breaking for them; this has floored me in ways I can't even begin to articulate. The self-loathing and self-blame are excruciating. I really appreciate your compassionate response - thank you.