Not upheld: Fraud reimbursement (APP scams) complaint against Revolut Ltd

Decision detail

Summary

Mr L complained that Revolut failed to prevent him from losing over £20,000 to an investment scam between May and July 2024. He made approximately 5 payments from his Revolut account, mostly to a cryptocurrency exchange, after being deceived by a fraudulent investment website. Revolut had intervened multiple times with warnings about investment scams, high returns, and social media fraud schemes, but Mr L ignored these warnings and provided false information to other account providers to enable the transfers. The ombudsman found that Revolut's interventions were adequate and proportionate, Mr L deliberately circumvented fraud controls, and the funds could not be recovered as they had already been sent to the scammer's wallet. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

Revolut intervened multiple times with warnings specifically addressing the scam features Mr L was falling victim to. Mr L deliberately provided false information to other providers to circumvent their fraud checks, demonstrating he was actively concealing the true nature of transactions. Given Revolut's interventions and warnings, and the requirement only for proportionate steps, the ombudsman concluded Revolut could not have uncovered or prevented the scam. Additionally, funds could not have been recovered as they had already been transferred to the scam firm's cryptocurrency wallet.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website