Not upheld: Fraud reimbursement (APP scams) complaint against Monzo Bank Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Ms A was scammed by fraudsters who convinced her to make payments totalling over £2,000 between September and November 2025, claiming they could unlock her social media account and provide access to a crypto wallet. She made card payments to a third-party payment processor and transfers via another account, all controlled by the scammers. Ms A complained to Monzo, expecting it to have prevented the payments. Monzo refunded some card payments but not others. The ombudsman found that the payment pattern was not sufficiently unusual to require Monzo's intervention, and that chargebacks on remaining payments would not have succeeded. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman applied the standard that Monzo should monitor for unusual transactions and intervene where appropriate. However, examining the specific payments, they were not individually large enough nor was the pattern sufficiently indicative of a scam to be considered unusual or out of character. The payments to the third-party payment processor were not inherently high-risk as it is a popular UK processor used legitimately by the vast majority of users. Therefore, there was no obligation for Monzo to intervene. Additionally, the card payments were not covered by the APP reimbursement scheme, and chargebacks would not have succeeded given the nature of the transactions.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website