Not upheld: scam and fraud; failure to prevent financial harm; inadequate gambling protections complaint against Monzo Bank Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mr O complained that Monzo Bank Limited failed to refund approximately £8,828 he lost through payments to two online cryptocurrency casinos between June and July 2025. Mr O claimed he was scammed when he could not withdraw his reported winnings from Casino B on 31 July 2025. Monzo declined to pursue a chargeback, characterising the matter as a civil dispute rather than fraud. The ombudsman found insufficient evidence that the casinos were operating a scam, distinguishing between gambling losses and fraudulent activity. Although Monzo intervened appropriately on 2 July with detailed questioning and scam warnings, the ombudsman concluded that further interventions would likely not have prevented Mr O from making subsequent payments, as he appeared knowledgeable about cryptocurrency and online casinos. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that while Mr O experienced withdrawal difficulties, there was insufficient evidence to conclude he fell victim to a scam rather than a civil dispute with unregulated gambling sites. Although Monzo had a responsibility to protect customers from fraud, this did not extend to protecting Mr O from losses through gambling on unregulated sites. The ombudsman determined that Monzo's intervention on 2 July was reasonable and appropriate, involving detailed questioning and tailored scam warnings. Even if Monzo had intervened in the 30 June and 30 July payments, the ombudsman concluded it was unlikely Mr O would have changed his mind, as he was able to explain his actions in detail and appeared familiar with online casinos and cryptocurrency. The gambling block's failure to catch subsequent transactions was due to merchants not using correct gambling merchant category codes, which was not Monzo's responsibility. Finally, Monzo was not at fault for not pursuing a chargeback, as Mastercard's rules do not cover withdrawal request failures.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website