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

Decision detail

Summary

Mr T complained that Revolut should refund money he lost to an investment scam. He had sent multiple payments to what he believed was a legitimate investment opportunity through a regulated trading platform, but subsequently discovered the investment itself was fraudulent and the shares lost most of their value. Revolut declined to refund the losses, and the ombudsman upheld this decision. The ombudsman found that the payments were authorised by Mr T to a legitimate regulated broker and did not present sufficient fraud indicators that should have triggered Revolut's intervention. Even if Revolut had questioned Mr T about the investment, his belief in its legitimacy and previous successful trading activity would have led him to proceed with the payments.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman applied the Payment Services Regulations 2017, which presume the customer liable for authorised payments in the first instance. While Revolut has obligations to monitor for fraud and intervene in suspicious transactions, the payments here were to a legitimate regulated broker for genuine share purchases. The size and pattern of transactions, combined with the legitimacy of the receiving platform, did not reasonably trigger fraud monitoring systems. Even if Revolut had questioned Mr T about the investment, he would have explained his previous successful trading activity and would likely have proceeded regardless. The common hallmarks of investment scams (social media advertising, messaging service communication) alone are insufficient to indicate fraud when a legitimate financial advisor might exhibit similar behaviour.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website