Not upheld: scam/fraud - failure to prevent unauthorised payments through lack of intervention complaint against Monzo Bank Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Miss B lost £9,680 to a task-based job scam on 29 October 2025 by making five payments to her own account with another payment service provider R, which were then forwarded to scammers. The ombudsman found Monzo should have identified the payments as unusual and intervened, but concluded that intervention would likely not have prevented the loss. This was because Miss B was heavily influenced by the scammer and willing to provide misleading information to payment service providers to ensure payments processed, as demonstrated by her conduct when payment service provider R intervened. The complaint was not upheld and no reimbursement was ordered.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

While Monzo should have intervened in the suspicious payments, the ombudsman found that intervention would likely not have prevented the loss. The key finding was that Miss B was heavily influenced by the scammer and willing to provide misleading information to payment service providers to ensure payments processed. When R intervened with appropriate questioning, Miss B sought guidance from the scammer on how to answer, demonstrating she would likely have done the same with Monzo. There is no evidence Miss B would have placed greater weight on a warning from Monzo than she did on warnings from R.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website