Not upheld: Scam / Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud - refund claim complaint against Revolut Ltd

Decision detail

Summary

Miss N lost over £7,000 to a job opportunity scam after making initial payments and cryptocurrency exchanges through her Revolut account. Revolut recovered only £5 and declined to refund the remainder. The ombudsman found that while Revolut should have been concerned about cryptocurrency exchanges and intervened further, such interventions would not have prevented the loss because Miss N provided misleading responses to Revolut's fraud checks (selecting incorrect payment purposes), likely due to scammer pressure. Under the FPS Reimbursement Rules, Revolut could apply a £100 excess to APP scam claims, and the relevant transfers fell below this threshold. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman applied the FPS Reimbursement Rules to the transfers to Mr P, finding that the £100 excess could fairly be applied as Miss N was not vulnerable in a way that affected her ability to protect herself. For the cryptocurrency exchanges, while Revolut should have been concerned and intervened further, the ombudsman concluded that proportionate checks would not have prevented the loss because Miss N's misleading responses to Revolut's existing interventions (selecting incorrect payment purposes and investment reasons) would likely have continued, preventing Revolut from identifying the true scam risk. The ombudsman found no errors by Revolut that caused or contributed to the loss.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website