Not upheld: chargeback handling and unauthorized account access complaint against Monzo Bank Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mr B complained that Monzo failed to refund payments he made to Roblox after his account was compromised while he was on holiday overseas in June 2025. Unauthorized transactions were made and his digital content was traded away by a third party. While Roblox refunded the unauthorized transactions, it did not restore his account or refund payments for lost digital content. Monzo initially approved two disputes but retracted them, and did not raise chargebacks for the authorized payments. The ombudsman upheld Monzo's position, finding that chargebacks had no reasonable grounds for success under Mastercard's rules because the service (delivery of Robux) was completed before the unauthorized trading occurred. The ombudsman found Monzo's £100 compensation for service issues to be fair and declined to require further action.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman determined that once Roblox provided the Robux to Mr B's account, the service had been delivered and was complete. What happened after delivery (the unauthorized trading away of digital content) fell outside Mastercard's chargeback rules. The ombudsman agreed with the Investigator that chargebacks would not have had reasonable grounds for success under the scheme rules, and therefore Monzo was not obligated to raise them. The ombudsman found Monzo's £100 compensation for service issues to be fair.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website