Not upheld: Fraud reimbursement (APP scams) complaint against Revolut Ltd

Decision detail

Summary

Mr W fell victim to an investment scam where he was convinced to make six large transfer payments totalling £80,831.74 to access supposed investment profits. Revolut intervened multiple times with warning screens, a 3-hour payment pause, and a direct call to alert Mr W to the fraud risk. However, Mr W provided false information during these interventions, claiming the transfers were to his own overseas account and denying he had been contacted by third parties or asked to install software. The ombudsman found that Revolut's interventions were proportionate and that Mr W's deliberate provision of false information made it impossible for Revolut to uncover the scam. The complaint was not upheld as there was insufficient evidence that more detailed intervention would have changed Mr W's behaviour.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

Although Revolut had a duty to protect against financial loss from fraud and to undertake due diligence on large transactions, the ombudsman found that Revolut did intervene proportionately multiple times with warnings, payment pauses, and direct calls. The critical issue was that Mr W deliberately provided false information to Revolut (claiming transfers were to his own overseas account, denying software installation, denying unexpected contact) which made it very difficult for Revolut to uncover the scam. The ombudsman concluded there was insufficient evidence that Mr W would have provided honest answers to more detailed interventions, and therefore Revolut did not miss an opportunity to prevent the scam.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website