TSB Bank plc · DRN-6199920

The complaint Miss N complains that TSB Bank plc loaded a negative fraud marker against her on the National Fraud Database. What happened Miss N had an account with TSB. Between January and April 2025 TSB received several fraud reports relating to payments Miss N received into her account. In April 2025 TSB wrote a letter to Ms N regarding three payments she received for a total of £305. Miss N advised TSB that she’d received the funds from her boyfriend and he sent her the money as a “girlfriend’s allowance type of thing”. TSB asked Miss N if she could provide a bank statement from the sender of the funds. However, TSB weren’t satisfied with Miss N’s response including the proof of entitlement she’d provided so they decided to close her account and load a negative fraud marker on the national fraud database. Miss N complained to TSB, but TSB thought they’d acted fairly so maintained the marker. On coming to our service Miss N advised her boyfriend had explained he couldn’t receive international payments and asked whether she could receive funds into her account from his clients and move them on via currency exchange platforms to Nigeria. She hadn’t realised these payments were fraudulent and wouldn’t have got involved or put her account at risk if she’d been aware. One of our Investigators looked into Miss N’s complaint but they thought TSB had sufficient evidence to load a negative fraud marker. Miss N reiterated she didn’t know the money was fraudulent and she was an innocent party. Miss N reshared evidence of messages between her and her boyfriend regarding transfers and screenshots of payments made. But this didn’t change our Investigators opinion. They were satisfied that TSB evidenced they’d received notification of fraud, and the social media conversations Miss N shared didn’t show the full conversations, weren’t dated nor did the payment screenshots show the figures involved in the scam. She also highlighted that Miss N changed her version of events from the payment coming in from her boyfriend to her boyfriend asking her to receive money from a third party and move it on. TSB accepted, but Miss N didn’t agree so the case has been passed to me to decide. What I’ve decided – and why I’ve considered all the available evidence and arguments to decide what’s fair and

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reasonable in the circumstances of this complaint. Our Investigator explained the standards TSB need to meet before loading a negative fraud marker on the National Fraud Database, so I won’t repeat this here. In summary they need to have clear, relevant and rigorous evidence that a fraud or financial crime was committed, and Miss N was complicit in receiving the funds. I’ve seen a copy of the notification TSB received regarding the fraudulent credits – and I’m satisfied this shows a financial crime was committed. However, this isn’t sufficient on its own to say it’s fair for TSB to load a negative fraud marker. They also need to show on balance that Miss N was complicit in receiving fraudulent funds. I realise this will disappoint Miss N but I’m satisfied she was, I say this because: • Miss N provided a different explanation to TSB when they first contacted her regarding the raised credits. Miss N initially advised TSB that the sender was her boyfriend and he sent her the funds as a form of “girlfriend’s allowance”. But on coming to our service Miss N explained the sender of her funds wasn’t her boyfriend, instead her boyfriend had asked her to receive credits from third parties as he couldn’t receive the payments in Nigeria. If Miss K wasn’t aware the funds were fraudulent, and was an innocent party, I’d expect her to have honest with TSB when the first asked her about the payments. • Miss N shared some communications between her and her boyfriend. However, the communications shared are very limited – they aren’t dated, don’t include the full conversations and don’t even mention the payments raised as fraudulent or the sender of the funds. I’m afraid for this reason I can’t place much weight on them – and they don’t persuade me Miss N’s explanation is what most likely happened. • On looking at Miss N’s statements, I can see that these payments, and many similar ones were transferred into her account earlier in 2025, were moved on by Miss N via currency exchange platforms. Miss N also seems to have taken a cut, around 10% of the balance, which I find a large amount for Miss N to take if she genuinely thought she was simply transferring on money her boyfriend had legitimately earnt and was receiving from clients. I acknowledge that the negative fraud marker has had a devastating effect on Miss N including making it very difficult for her to obtain financial products, open a standard bank account or save for university. However, for the reasons I’ve outlined above I’m satisfied it’s fair for TSB to conclude Miss N was complicit in receiving the funds. And load a negative fraud marker against her. It follows, I won’t be asking them to do anything further. My final decision My final decision is I don’t uphold this complaint. Under the rules of the Financial Ombudsman Service, I’m required to ask Miss N to accept or reject my decision before 27 April 2026. Jeff Burch Ombudsman

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