Not upheld: scam/fraud - investment scam, payment processing, failure to intervene complaint against Revolut Ltd

Decision detail

Summary

Mrs T lost just over £1,400 to an investment scam after making three payments from her newly created Revolut e-money account in December 2025. She believed she was investing in cryptocurrency through a social media opportunity, but it was a scam. Revolut declined her scam claim and complaint but refunded 50% as a gesture of goodwill. The ombudsman found that Revolut acted fairly in processing the payments, having made proportionate enquiries and provided a scam warning on the first payment. No pattern of suspicious activity emerged with subsequent payments to warrant further intervention, and recovery would have been unlikely given the cryptocurrency was legitimately purchased before being sent to scammer-controlled wallets.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

Under the Payment Services Regulations 2017, authorised payments are the liability of the payer even when duped into making them. While Revolut should look out for fraud and make additional checks in some circumstances, the individual payment amounts and frequency were not sufficiently suspicious to warrant intervention. Revolut's proportionate intervention on the first payment was appropriate. No pattern of suspicious activity emerged with subsequent payments that would have required further questioning. Once processed, the payments could not be cancelled, and recovery would have been unlikely given the cryptocurrency had been legitimately purchased before being sent to scammer-controlled wallets.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website