Cathal lost €20,000 through investment with a fraudulent cryptocurrency company

Cathal spotted a tractor on an online private sales platform and sent money to England to buy it. It turned out to be a scam and he received neither the tractor, nor a return of his money. Cathal wanted to make up for his loss and was attracted by an ad promoting investment in cryptocurrency. The company he used turned out to be a fraudulent company and despite investing up to €20,000, Cathal received no returns. At one point the company told Cathal that he would receive €60,000 if he sent them €6,000 which was not true. Cathal continued to engage with the fraudsters, after he had made a complaint to the FSPO.

Cathal's bank said it could not get a return of his funds as he had correctly authorised the transactions through his online banking. The bank also said that it had questioned Cathal on some of his transactions, but that he insisted they were legitimate. However, on reviewing Cathal's banking history the bank decided that it could have intervened more strongly at an earlier point to stop the ongoing fraud. For this reason, it offered Cathal €5,000 on condition that he meet the bank to discuss his vulnerability and the protection of his future banking. Cathal accepted this offer in full and final settlement of his complaint.