A NatWest customer who was refused a refund of £20,000 from the bank, despite it being stolen from his account while he was in hospital following a violent mugging, has finally had the money returned to him, following a BBC probe.
BBC's Watchdog Live launched an investigation into the handling of his case after NatWest - his bank - declined the fraud claim.
Following a night out in London last December, Arthur, who was 19 at the time of the attack, was found unconscious by a dog walker in a park after being brutally beaten and robbed.
After regaining consciousness in hospital 12 hours later, he discovered that thieves had spent £20,000 on his stolen debit card.
NatWest refused to refund Arthur £20,000 thieves stole out of his account after mugging him
Despite reporting the theft to NatWest, the bank declined his fraud claim and refused to refund the money, failing to provide any evidence to back up its decision.
In tonight's episode of Watchdog Live, Arthur tells presenter Steph McGovern: 'It's destroyed my life. It's made me feel like I am the criminal and I feel I have been accused of fraud.
'I ended up in hospital. I could very easily have died that night – why would I put myself through that?'
Arthur has requested his surname is not made public to protect his privacy.
Arthur says he has only a few memories of the attack itself but believes the thieves could have spied on him to obtain his Pin prior to the robbery and opened his phone using his fingerprint while he was knocked out.
Following on from Watchdog Live's investigation into Arthur's case, NatWest has reversed its initial decision and has said it will refund him the full amount, apologising for a 'lack of clarity' in its original ruling.
In a statement, NatWest's parent company RBS said: 'We would like to offer our apologies to Arthur for the distress that he has experienced as a result of the attack on him and the subsequent events that followed.
'We treat all claims of fraud with the utmost seriousness and investigate them on a case by case basis to ensure a fair outcome for the customer.
'The case raised by Arthur was a complex one and there existed a number of inconsistencies between the version of events presented to us by him and following our own internal investigation.
'Following a further review of the case, we have taken the decision to refund Arthur in full and would like to apologise for any lack of clarity presented to him regarding our initial decision.'
BBC's Watchdog Live presenter Steph McGovern speaks to fraud lawyer, Arun Chauhan
The £20,000 stolen from Arthur's account was part of a fund that matured on his 18th birthday but the bank continued to insist that Arthur was involved in the theft, even while he lay injured in hospital.
An ambulance report confirms that Arthur was found lying unconscious in a London park with blood on his face at around 9:30am on the day of the robbery and was taken to hospital.
His bank statements from the day of the robbery also prove that multiple purchases were made on the stolen debit card at stores across the capital.
He protested his innocence for a year despite the bank's protestations.
Fraud lawyer Arun Chauhan explains that the rules are very clear in cases like this and NatWest have not followed them.
He said: 'It's not for Arthur to prove his innocence – it's for the banks to prove Arthur is in the wrong.
'They accept he's been assaulted and they accept the transactions were by a third party, so unless they can prove gross negligence, or fraud on Arthur's behalf, he needs to be compensated.'
The initial decision letter from NatWest that Arthur received in December 2017 stated that his claim for a refund was denied 'in line with our policy' and gave him notice it would be closing his account.
However, Watchdog's investigation found that NatWest provided no proof that Arthur was grossly negligent - evidence that is legally required when fraud claims are turned down.
The programme exposed the case of Charlotte Higman last month, who was initially blamed by RBS for a £4,300 telephone banking scam.
After the programme investigated the case and found that the fraudster had answered security questions wrong, the bank refunded the money.
Bank accounts are still the most targeted product for fraudsters, with over 100,000 reported cases filed in the UK last year.
The Financial Ombudsman Service – which aims to resolve financial issues for customers – has ordered banks to stop 'automatically' blaming customers when fraud is carried out on their account.
Watchdog Live's full report will air tonight on BBC One at 8pm and will be available on iPlayer afterwards.
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Link hienalouca.com
https://hienalouca.com/2018/12/06/natwest-customer-refused-20k-refund-after-violent-attack-by-thieves-has-money-returned/
Main photo article A NatWest customer who was refused a refund of £20,000 from the bank, despite it being stolen from his account while he was in hospital following a violent mugging, has finally had the money returned to him, following a BBC probe.
BBC’s Watchdog Live launched an investigation into the ...
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Dianne Reeves Online news HienaLouca
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