Partially upheld: scam/fraud - failure to intervene on suspicious cryptocurrency transfers complaint against Revolut Ltd

Decision detail

Summary

Ms N fell victim to a job scam where she was told to 'top up' a work account using cryptocurrency. She made multiple cryptocurrency exchanges through her Revolut account, funded largely by a friend, transferring funds to fraudster-controlled wallets. Revolut rejected her reimbursement claim, citing scam awareness information provided and the irreversible nature of payments. The ombudsman partially upheld the complaint, finding that Revolut should have intervened when Ms N made seven cryptocurrency exchanges in a single day with escalating values on 18 July 2024, but also found Ms N bore responsibility for not exercising greater caution. Revolut was ordered to reimburse 50% of losses from that point onwards, totalling £3,192.89.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

While the FOS cannot consider cryptocurrency operation complaints as they are not regulated activities, it can consider ancillary payment services activities such as acceptance of funds and fiat-to-cryptocurrency exchanges. Revolut should have contacted Ms N via in-app chat when she made her seventh cryptocurrency exchange on 18 July 2024, as this represented out-of-character and escalating activity that would have uncovered the scam. However, Ms N also bore responsibility for not proceeding with greater caution, as some elements of the scam were not overly plausible. Therefore, liability should be shared 50/50 from the £3,010 exchange onwards.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website