Not upheld: scam and fraud - failure to intervene complaint against Monzo Bank Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Miss C complained that Monzo failed to refund approximately £20,000 lost to a series of scams between April 2024 and May 2025, involving around 100 payments. She argued Monzo should have stopped the payments. While the ombudsman found that Monzo should have intervened more by asking questions and providing warnings, it concluded that intervention would not have stopped the scams because the scammer had coached Miss C on what to say when questioned, and she continued making payments despite her own doubts and warnings from friends and family. The ombudsman also found that chargeback claims would not have succeeded as Miss C received the cryptocurrency she paid for, and reimbursement schemes did not apply. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

While Monzo should have intervened more by asking questions and providing warnings, the ombudsman concluded that intervention would not have stopped the scams. The scammer had coached Miss C on what to say when questioned, so she would likely have provided false information to Monzo as well. Additionally, Miss C continued making payments despite her own doubts and warnings from friends and family, suggesting she was completely under the scammer's influence and would have found alternative payment methods if Monzo had blocked the transactions. The ombudsman found that chargeback claims would not have been successful as Miss C received the cryptocurrency she paid for, and reimbursement schemes did not apply as the payments were made by card to crypto accounts in her own name.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website