Not upheld: scam / fraud - refund claim complaint against Revolut Ltd

Decision detail

Summary

Mrs S lost money to an investment scam after making several authorised payments through her Revolut account to a cryptocurrency provider. She complained to Revolut seeking a refund, but Revolut did not uphold the complaint. The ombudsman found that the individual payment values were not remarkable enough to trigger Revolut's automatic checking systems, and that Mrs S had disclosed her intention to use the account for cryptocurrency payments when opening it. Although Mrs S claimed to be vulnerable at the time, Revolut had no knowledge of this and nothing on the account indicated she required additional protection. The complaint was not upheld and no compensation was ordered.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

Under the Payment Services Regulations 2017, consumers are generally liable for authorised payments, and EMIs must balance fraud prevention with minimising disruption to legitimate payments. The individual payment values were not remarkable enough to trigger automatic checking systems. The payments to a cryptocurrency provider were not automatically suspicious, particularly given Mrs S had disclosed this intended use. By the time payments increased in value, the payee appeared trusted due to the sustained payment pattern. Revolut had no visibility of Mrs S's vulnerabilities and nothing on the account indicated she required additional protection.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website