Not upheld: scam claim refusal and account closure complaint against Monzo Bank Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mr P complained that Monzo refused to refund £2,550 lost to a scam involving three cryptocurrency payments made from his newly opened account in December 2023 and January 2024. He initially claimed he didn't make the payments, but later stated he had made them but fell victim to a scam. Monzo declined the claim and closed his account with two months' notice. The ombudsman found that the transactions were not sufficiently suspicious to warrant intervention, that Monzo's handling of the claim was fair, and that the account closure complied with the terms and conditions. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that the disputed transactions were not sufficiently suspicious to warrant intervention by Monzo before processing. While the account was newly opened, the amounts were relatively low and cryptocurrency transactions are legitimate activities. The ombudsman balanced the need to identify potentially fraudulent payments against minimizing disruption to legitimate transactions. Monzo's initial handling of the claim was fair given Mr P's initial assertion that he didn't make the payments. The account closure complied with the terms and conditions as Monzo provided two months' notice. Monzo could not have recovered the funds as they were used to purchase cryptocurrency from legitimate providers and subsequently transferred out.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website