Not upheld: scam and fraud - refund claim complaint against MONZO BANK LIMITED

Decision detail

Summary

Mr L, aged 16, was scammed into making a £614.31 payment via his Monzo card after being contacted by someone claiming to need help clearing an eBay account debt. The individual blocked him after the payment and did not repay the money. Mr L complained to Monzo, which declined to refund the loss, characterising it as a civil dispute. The ombudsman found that although Mr L was a scam victim, he had authorised the payment himself, and the transaction was not sufficiently unusual to require Monzo's intervention. The payment was within his normal transaction patterns, eBay was a known payee, and 3D Secure authentication was used. A chargeback had no reasonable prospect of success. The complaint was not upheld, though the £25 compensation for service delay was deemed appropriate.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

Although Mr L was the victim of a scam, he authorised the payment himself, making him responsible under the Payment Service Regulations 2017. The payment was not so unusual or out of character as to require Monzo to intervene. The payment value was not remarkable in context of daily transactions Monzo sees, Mr L had made similar payments before, and eBay was a known payee. Mr L's age of 16 did not change this assessment given the circumstances. A chargeback had no reasonable prospect of success given the payment circumstances did not fall into applicable chargeback reasons.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website