Not upheld: account closure and Cifas fraud marker registration complaint against Monzo Bank Ltd

Decision detail

Summary

Miss B complained about Monzo closing her account and registering a Cifas 'misuse of facility' marker after she received £4,000 in two transfers from a family friend's friend (S) that were later flagged as fraudulent. Miss B claimed the funds were a legitimate personal loan for visa extension fees, but Monzo had contacted her twice in June 2025 seeking clarification and she did not respond. When Miss B subsequently provided explanations to FOS, her testimony was contradictory regarding when she obtained S's personal documents, she could not provide timestamped evidence of her communications, and the timing of the funds (six months before her visa expiry) seemed inconsistent with her stated purpose. The ombudsman found Monzo had reasonable grounds to believe fraudulent activity occurred and that Miss B's credibility was undermined by her changing and incomplete explanations, therefore upholding Monzo's decision to register the marker.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that Monzo had reasonable grounds to believe fraudulent activity occurred based on external notification and met the legal requirements for registering a Cifas marker. Miss B failed to respond to Monzo's inquiries despite having the opportunity to explain, and subsequently provided contradictory, incomplete, and insufficiently evidenced explanations to FOS. The timing of the funds (six months before visa expiry), Miss B's possession of S's personal documents, her changing testimony about when she obtained those documents, the implausibility of S becoming unresponsive while seeking repayment, and the lack of substantiating evidence all led the ombudsman to conclude that Miss B was likely aware of the fraudulent nature of the funds. Therefore, Monzo correctly registered the marker.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website