Omar complained that the bank's investigation and response were not fair and reasonable. He said the bank did not properly consider the precautions he took before making the payment, did not adequately answer his questions about contact with the recipient bank, and did not fairly consider a goodwill payment.

Our investigation

We found no information showing the bank knew, or should reasonably have known, that the recipient was a scammer when Omar authorised the payment.

The records showed the bank contacted the recipient bank on the day Omar reported the scam. It told the recipient bank Omar appeared to have been the victim of scam, asked that it hold on to any remaining money, and also asked whether it could recover that money. The records showed the bank later sought an update from the recipient bank, which replied that it could not recover any of the money.

We found the bank acted reasonably after becoming aware of the scam. In short, we could identify no failure by the bank in processing the payment or trying to recover the money.

Outcome

We shared our views with Omar, and he withdrew his complaint.