Not upheld: Scam / Fraud - failure to prevent or refund complaint against Revolut Ltd

Decision detail

Summary

Mr O, having previously lost £12,000 to a cryptocurrency investment scam in 2023, engaged a recovery service in late 2025 that turned out to be another scam. He transferred over £5,300 in cryptocurrency from his Revolut account to addresses provided by the fraudsters over seven days in November 2025. When Mr O realised he had been scammed again, he complained to Revolut seeking a refund. Revolut refused, arguing it had provided adequate scam protection. The ombudsman found that the transactions were not sufficiently suspicious based on their size, spacing, and consistency with Mr O's previous usage patterns, and that Revolut was not aware of Mr O's prior victimisation. The complaint was not upheld, and no refund was ordered.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that the disputed transactions were not concerningly large, were not escalating in size, and were spaced out over time rather than made in a frenzied manner. The transactions were broadly in line with Mr O's previous account usage, including recent similar-value cryptocurrency purchases. There were insufficient risk factors present that would have reasonably prompted Revolut to intervene before processing the payments. While Mr O was vulnerable due to prior victimisation, Revolut was unaware of this and did not miss signs requiring additional support. The ombudsman noted that cryptocurrency withdrawals cannot be reversed in the same way as regulated payments.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website