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

Decision detail

Summary

Mr S lost £2,393 to an investment scam through five payments made from his Revolut account between July and August 2025 to legitimate cryptocurrency providers. He complained that Revolut should have prevented the payments or recovered the funds, but Revolut declined to refund him. The ombudsman found that while firms should monitor for fraud risks, the payment values were modest and consistent with Mr S's previous transaction history, the frequency was spread over weeks without rapid escalation, and cryptocurrency payments alone do not indicate fraud. The ombudsman concluded that Revolut was not required to intervene and upheld Revolut's decision not to refund the loss.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that while Revolut should monitor for fraud risks, the payments in question were not sufficiently unusual to warrant intervention. The payment values were modest and consistent with Mr S's previous transaction history, the frequency was spread over weeks without rapid escalation, and cryptocurrency payments alone do not indicate fraud. Although cryptocurrency has known fraud risks, not all such payments are scam-related, so intervention on this basis alone would be disproportionate. A chargeback would not have been successful as Mr S received the cryptocurrency service he paid for.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website