Not upheld: scam / fraud - reimbursement claim complaint against Revolut Ltd

Decision detail

Summary

Miss M lost £284.42 to a scam after being contacted by fraudsters posing as a flight booking company. She authorised the payment from her Revolut account and later realised she had been scammed. Miss M complained to Revolut seeking reimbursement, but Revolut refused. The ombudsman found the payment was not unusual or suspicious in nature, so Revolut was not required to intervene before processing it. Additionally, no chargeback remedy was available as the scheme rules do not cover scams and international recovery is unlikely. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

Under the Payment Services Regulations 2017, consumers are generally liable for authorised payments. While firms should intervene if transactions appear unusual or suspicious, the £284.42 payment was not of a value or nature that would typically trigger concern. It was a single payment rather than multiple large payments, and did not look out of character. Revolut processes high volumes of transactions daily and must balance customer convenience with fraud prevention. Regarding chargeback, the scheme rules do not cover scams, and recovery of funds sent internationally is unlikely as the merchant can often demonstrate services were provided.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website