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

Decision detail

Summary

Mr O complained that Revolut refused to refund money he lost to a scam involving fraudulent job opportunity payments. Revolut had intervened by asking Mr O to confirm the payment purpose, but Mr O inaccurately stated he was repaying a friend or family member rather than selecting the job opportunity option. The ombudsman found that the individual payment amounts were not remarkable enough to trigger Revolut's checking processes, and Mr O's inaccurate responses prevented Revolut from providing relevant scam warnings. The complaint was not upheld as Revolut could not have prevented the losses.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

While EMIs have obligations to protect customers from fraud, there must be a balance between identifying potentially fraudulent payments and minimising disruption to legitimate payments. The individual payments were not of sufficient value to trigger Revolut's checking process. Although Revolut did intervene (more than expected), Mr O provided inaccurate information about the payment purpose, which prevented Revolut from giving relevant warnings about the specific scam. Therefore, Revolut could not have prevented the losses.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website