Not upheld: unauthorised transactions / disputed transactions complaint against Monzo Bank Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mr T complained to Monzo that over £20,000 in transactions to gambling sites made between 20-23 June 2025 were unauthorised, claiming his phone had been stolen. Monzo refused to refund the transactions based on technical evidence and closed his accounts. The ombudsman found Mr T's evidence contained multiple inconsistencies and that the technical evidence—including 3Ds verification, matching IP addresses, and identical identity verification videos across devices—demonstrated that Mr T himself made the transactions. The complaint was not upheld and no refund was ordered.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found Mr T's evidence unreliable due to multiple inconsistencies. The technical evidence strongly indicated that the same person accessed both the allegedly stolen device and the replacement device, and that all transactions were properly verified through 3Ds security. The matching identity verification videos across devices further supported that Mr T himself made the transactions. Without persuasive evidence of how someone else could have completed the transactions without his involvement, the ombudsman could not find the transactions were unauthorised.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website