Not upheld: scam / fraud protection failure complaint against Revolut Ltd

Decision detail

Summary

Miss A lost approximately £1,100 to a scam between December 2025 and January 2026 after being tricked into exchanging fiat currency for cryptocurrency through her Revolut account, which she then sent to a scammer posing as someone who could help recover a lost email account. She complained to Revolut for not protecting her from financial harm, but Revolut declined to reimburse her. The ombudsman found that the exchanges were not remarkable enough to trigger Revolut's concern, that Revolut did provide warnings during the cryptocurrency withdrawal process, and that even further probing would likely not have prevented the loss given Miss A's vulnerability to the scammer's influence. The complaint was not upheld, and Revolut was not required to take any further action beyond the account fees it had already refunded.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that while Revolut has obligations to protect customers from fraud and scams, these obligations are predicated on there being actual fraud or scam. The exchanges Miss A made were not remarkable enough to cause Revolut significant concern - they were not of a value that would typically trigger heightened concern, and cryptocurrency exchanges alone do not indicate scam risk. Although Revolut did intervene and provide warnings during the cryptocurrency withdrawal process, Miss A's answers to Revolut's questions did not reveal the scam. The ombudsman noted that even if Revolut had probed further on the fiat-to-cryptocurrency exchanges, it would likely not have made a difference given Miss A appeared to be under the scammer's influence and ignored advice from her sister. The ombudsman also found that Revolut treated Miss A fairly once it became aware of her circumstances and that the refund of account fees was a fair offer.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website