Ombudsman not upheld my complaint

slingo63

In August 2024 I fell victim to a scam where someone rang me claiming to be from my bank. I questioned if he was genuinely from my bank and I was sent a text message which looked exactly like the ones I get from my bank. He told me my account had been compromised and advised me to make payments to somewhere while they created a new account for me. I know in retrospect this was stupid but he was very convincing. I took it to the ombudsman who rejected my claim and I appealed against it, but an actual ombudsman has upheld the original decision. I don't want to put all the details here, but they said because I authorised the payments in my banking app (as I was convinced he was from the bank!) I can't get my money back. I argued (and the bank acknowledge this) that it should have been flagged as unusual activity for my account. I've lost £2000 here so just wondered if anyone can help me to try and get this back, or will it cost me more than it's worth? I'm so annoyed that someone did this to me, and annoyed with myself for falling for it. Thanks in advance.

eskbanker

Which bank was it?

The big players subscribed to a voluntary APP (Authorised Push Payment) scam code from 2019 to October 2024, and after that date it was mandatory for all banks.

You're not obliged to share all the details here but a summary of why the ombudsman rejected your claim would obviously be helpful....

MyRealNameToo

slingo63 said:

In August 2024 I fell victim to a scam where someone rang me claiming to be from my bank. I questioned if he was genuinely from my bank and I was sent a text message which looked exactly like the ones I get from my bank. He told me my account had been compromised and advised me to make payments to somewhere while they created a new account for me. I know in retrospect this was stupid but he was very convincing. I took it to the ombudsman who rejected my claim and I appealed against it, but an actual ombudsman has upheld the original decision. I don't want to put all the details here, but they said because I authorised the payments in my banking app (as I was convinced he was from the bank!) I can't get my money back. I argued (and the bank acknowledge this) that it should have been flagged as unusual activity for my account. I've lost £2000 here so just wondered if anyone can help me to try and get this back, or will it cost me more than it's worth? I'm so annoyed that someone did this to me, and annoyed with myself for falling for it. Thanks in advance.

Do you have the DRN number from the ombudsman decision? They are all published online in an anonymised format though if it's very recent it may not be online yet. 

I saw someone who's worked in financial services for 20 years and is a decent middle manager on a six figure sum salary fall for exactly the same thing. It can happen to anyone if they catch you at the right/wrong (matter of perspective) time. 

If you have already gone to an ombudsman then that is the end of the line with the FOS. Your only remaining option would be to go to court. For that you would need to find laws or regulations the bank has actually broken rather than argue on the basis of what's fair. 

It could very well be that you through good money after bad though. Not saying it's not happened nor that the ombudsman is infallible but I've not come across a case where a consumer has gone to court and won after the ombudsman has ruled against them. Generally the ombudsman is more consumer leaning than the court because they are legally bound to find an fair outcome whereas the courts are responsible for applying the law 

Isthisforreal99

Is this the same complaint you asked about in April? - https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6600217/financial-ombudsman-sided-with-the-bank#latest

You won't get different answers by asking again

Ayr_Rage

Isthisforreal99 said:

Is this the same complaint you asked about in April? - https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6600217/financial-ombudsman-sided-with-the-bank#latest

You won't get different answers by asking again

Well spotted @Isthisforreal99

This post is also missing some salient points such as the fact that @slingo63 shared card details with the fraudster.

singhini

I have never understood how the scam works.

If someone rang me claiming to be the bank and is saying i need to move my money as my bank account has been compromised, my response would be "i don't need to do anything, you the bank do. Its your systems that have been compromised"

i cant think of any scenario that a bank requires you to move money. When would a bank require you to move money?

I genuinely don't understand how this scam works?

eskbanker

singhini said:

I have never understood how the scam works.

If someone rang me claiming to be the bank and is saying i need to move my money as my bank account has been compromised, my response would be "i don't need to do anything, you the bank do. Its your systems that have been compromised"

i cant think of any scenario that a bank requires you to move money. When would a bank require you to move money?

I genuinely don't understand how this scam works?

It's easy to be dismissive with cold logic in isolation but those perpetrating such scams are well versed in social engineering techniques and are very persuasive.

singhini

@eskbanker
i totally agree and understand what your saying.

But every time i raise the question "When would a bank require you to move money?"   no body gives me an answer (nor have i ever seem the banks come out and say this i.e, "we would never ask you to move your money" (so im guessing perhaps they would ask you to move your money, but as i say ive never been given an answer and thus can't work out the mechanics of the scam).

Someone please enlighten me so i too don't fall victim to it

eskbanker

singhini said:

...nor have i ever seem the banks come out and say this i.e, "we would never ask you to move your money"...

Except where they all do!

We'll never call to tell you to move money to another account.

https://www.halifax.co.uk/helpcentre/protecting-yourself-from-fraud/scam-calls.html

And we’ll NEVER ask you to move money to a ‘safe account’

https://www.nationwide.co.uk/-/assets/nationwidecouk/documents/help/fraud-and-security/how-to-spot-a-scam.pdf

We'll never call to tell you to move money to another account.

https://www.lloydsbank.com/help-guidance/protecting-yourself-from-fraud/scam-calls.html
The bank or any trusted organisation will never ask you to move your money to a new bank account or ask you to hand over your bank card and PIN to ‘keep it safe’ or to ‘support a criminal investigation’ - this is a scam.

https://www.rbs.co.uk/fraud-and-security/card-payment-help.html

etc....

Edit: OP's bank, Starling, also does so:

Stop, think and remember that your bank will never ask you to move your money to a ‘safe’ account: this is a scam.

https://www.starlingbank.com/blog/protecting-yourself-from-app-fraud/

ivormonee

It appears the OP may have asked about this before (as per above). But, in answer to the OP: if you are not satisfied with the FO's decision and you believe you have a case, then your next port of call would be legal action against the bank, if you believe they have breached banking regulations in some way (eg. not honouring a commitment to re-imburse a victim of fraud where there were adequate signs that fraudulent activity was taking place and they failed to adequately inform the victim as per the relevant regulations).

eskbanker

MyRealNameToo said:

Do you have the DRN number from the ombudsman decision?

I believe it's this one:

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/decision/DRN-5709207.pdf

in which the FOS rationale is clearly explained:

The question, then, is whether Starling ought reasonably to have identified this payment as suspicious. While we now know with the benefit of hindsight that Mr S was being targeted by fraudsters, I am not persuaded that Starling had any reasonable grounds at the time to suspect that something was amiss. The value of the payment, while not insignificant, was not so high as to be inherently suspicious. It was somewhat out of character, but not to a degree that would necessarily trigger concern. Mr S has explained that he was under pressure from the fraudsters, and I accept that. However, this was not something the bank was aware of when it processed the transaction.

Overall, I’m not persuaded Starling did anything wrong in failing to intervene. I appreciate that will be a frustrating finding for Mr S. If it had intervened, there was a strong chance that the payment could have been prevented. But I don’t think Starling had sufficient grounds to block the transaction or to contact Mr S to explore the wider context and so I don’t think it erred in processing the payment without questioning it further.

It seems highly unlikely that a court would take a different view, but it's possible, if OP has the time, energy and money to pursue that avenue....