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

Decision detail

Summary

Mr M complained that Revolut Ltd refused to refund the full amount he lost to a scam involving two payments to a fraudulent website. Revolut offered a 50% goodwill refund but declined to refund the full amount or process a chargeback. The ombudsman found that the payment amounts were not remarkable enough to trigger Revolut's automatic fraud checking system, and that a chargeback would have been unlikely to succeed because Mr M paid a legitimate payment service provider who facilitated the transaction rather than the scammer directly. The ombudsman concluded that Revolut acted reasonably and fairly, and that its 50% goodwill gesture was more than adequate. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman applied the balance of probabilities standard and considered the PSR 2017 framework. The individual payment amounts were not remarkable enough to trigger Revolut's automatic checking system, so Revolut acted reasonably in processing them. A chargeback would have been unlikely to succeed because Mr M paid a legitimate PSP who provided a service, not the scammer directly. Therefore, Revolut did not act unfairly in declining to process a chargeback. The 50% goodwill refund already offered exceeded what could reasonably be expected.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website