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

Decision detail

Summary

Mrs M fell victim to an investment scam orchestrated by individual 'S' representing fake company 'F', losing £24,568.50 through payments to cryptocurrency exchanges via her Revolut account between July and August 2025. Revolut intervened on the second payment with warnings and a three-hour hold, but Mrs M ignored these and continued making payments while providing false information to her banks and taking out undisclosed borrowing. The ombudsman found that while Revolut should have intervened further given the pattern of large crypto transfers, there was no evidence that additional intervention would have stopped Mrs M, as she was so thoroughly manipulated by the scammer that she disregarded warnings and was untruthful with financial institutions. The complaint was not upheld as the loss was caused by the scammer's manipulation rather than Revolut's failure to prevent it.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

While Revolut should have intervened further given the amount and destination of payments to cryptocurrency providers, the ombudsman was not persuaded that additional intervention would have prevented Mrs M from continuing. Mrs M ignored relevant warnings during the intervention that did occur, provided false information to her other bank, and took out undisclosed borrowing. The evidence shows Mrs M was so manipulated by the scammer that she would disregard warnings and be untruthful with financial institutions even during direct interventions. The loss was caused by the scammer, not by Revolut's failure to intervene further.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website