Not upheld: account closure and fund return; potential fraud concerns complaint against Monzo Bank Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mr O complained that Monzo unfairly blocked and closed his account without explanation and failed to return approximately £3,370 in remaining funds. Mr O had received two payments totalling £3,564 from an intermediary (L) when expecting only £1,000, and was instructed to forward £2,782 to a limited company. Mr O gave inconsistent accounts to Monzo (claiming L was his friend) and later to the FOS (revealing his actual friend H had orchestrated the payments and instructed him what to say). The ombudsman found Monzo acted within its regulatory obligations and contractual rights, was justified in its concerns about the legitimacy of the funds based on Mr O's dishonesty and suspicious transaction patterns, and properly returned the funds to source. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that Monzo acted within its regulatory obligations and terms and conditions when blocking and closing the account. The ombudsman was persuaded that Mr O was being deliberately dishonest based on the inconsistencies in his accounts (initially claiming L was his friend, later revealing H was orchestrating the payments) and his own suspicions about the transaction. Given these concerns about the legitimacy of the funds and Mr O's knowledge of their origin, Monzo was entitled to return the funds to source. The ombudsman accepted Monzo's technical evidence that funds were properly returned.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website