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

Decision detail

Summary

Mr M was contacted by a scammer impersonating the Royal Courts of Justice and persuaded to move funds to his Revolut account as a 'safe account'. The scammer then convinced him to make a £896 debit card payment via a legitimate money remittance service. When Mr M realised the scam, he reported it to Revolut, which offered a 50% goodwill refund but refused full reimbursement. The ombudsman upheld Revolut's position, finding that the payment was properly authorised under payment regulations, the transaction was not unusual enough to trigger fraud intervention, and a chargeback would have failed because the money remittance service was legitimate and did provide a service to Mr M.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman applied a two-part test: whether Revolut should have prevented the payment, or whether it hindered recovery. On the first point, while Revolut should monitor for fraud, the £896 payment was not unusual enough in value or nature to require intervention, as customers regularly use money remittance services for one-off larger payments and the beneficiary was a legitimate provider. On the second point, a chargeback would have failed because the money remittance service did provide a service to Mr M (albeit for fraudulent purposes), so the merchant could successfully defend the claim. The ombudsman also rejected the argument that the payment could be reversed while 'pending', as once authorised and processed, Revolut cannot reverse debit card payments.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website