Not upheld: scam protection - failure to intervene with warnings complaint against Revolut Ltd

Decision detail

Summary

Ms T lost approximately £17,000 to a task-based job scam in August 2022 after purchasing cryptocurrency via Revolut. She made 8 payments to a crypto provider over 10 days before realising the scam when unable to withdraw funds. The ombudsman found that while Revolut should have provided tailored written warnings about crypto scams on the later payments due to heightened fraud risk, such warnings would not have prevented Ms T from proceeding because her job scam did not match the typical features of crypto investment scams (the primary crypto fraud risk at that time). Therefore, Revolut was not held responsible for the loss.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

While Revolut should have provided written scam warnings tailored to crypto investment scams on the later payments due to heightened fraud risk, the ombudsman applied a causation test. The key features of common crypto investment scams (celebrity endorsement, account manager, remote access software, small initial deposit) did not match Ms T's circumstances. Ms T's scam was a job scam accessed via social media, which was not the most common crypto fraud risk at the time. Therefore, even proportionate warnings about crypto investment scams would not have resonated with or deterred Ms T from proceeding with the payments.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website