Not upheld: scam and fraud - refusal to refund complaint against Revolut Ltd

Decision detail

Summary

Miss W lost £8,033 to a job scam after responding to a social media advert and being instructed to purchase cryptocurrency. Revolut intervened multiple times with questions and explicit warnings about job scam fraud, but Miss W deliberately provided false information when questioned, following instructions from the scammer. The ombudsman found that Revolut had taken reasonable steps and that Miss W's deliberate provision of false information meant no additional measures would have prevented the loss. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman acknowledged that Revolut should have monitoring systems and fraud prevention measures in place. However, Revolut did intervene with questions and explicit warning screens about job scams. The critical factor was that Miss W was deliberately following the scammer's instructions to provide false answers to Revolut's questions, even when instructed to give incorrect information. The ombudsman concluded that even if Revolut had asked further questions, Miss W would likely have continued following the scammer's instructions and providing false information, meaning additional questions would not have prevented the loss. Therefore, Revolut could not reasonably have prevented the scam.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website