Not upheld: scam / fraud - failure to prevent and recover funds complaint against Revolut Ltd

Decision detail

Summary

Mr and Mrs I lost over £200,000 to an investment scam between June and November 2024, making approximately 19 payments via their Revolut account to a crypto exchange that converted funds to cryptocurrency sent to a fraudulent website. Revolut intervened multiple times and provided online warnings about investment scams, but Mr I ignored these warnings and provided inaccurate information during calls to facilitate the payments. The ombudsman found that while Revolut should have intervened more, any proportionate intervention would not have stopped the scam given the customer's deliberate deception and disregard of warnings. The complaint was not upheld as the funds were sent to accounts in Mr I's own name, placing them outside reimbursement scheme protections.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

While Revolut should have intervened more extensively, particularly later in the scam, the ombudsman found that any intervention would not have prevented the scam because: (1) Revolut did intervene multiple times and provided warnings that specifically mentioned the features of the scam Mr I was falling for; (2) Mr I ignored all warnings; (3) Mr I deliberately provided misleading answers to Revolut's questions designed to allow payments to proceed; (4) Revolut was only required to take proportionate steps; and (5) the funds were sent to accounts in Mr I's own name, so no reimbursement scheme applied and recovery was not possible.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website