Revolut Customers Successfully Refunded After Unauthorised Transaction Fraud

Ms L’s phone was stolen in January 2024, after which several transactions were made using her Revolut account, which she did not authorise. The total lost was £31,150. Ms L had not stored login details on her phone and did not know how the thief accessed her account.

She complained to Revolut, who refused to refund the money, saying she had been grossly negligent and was responsible for the loss. Ms L disagreed and took her claim to FOS.

In Ms L’s case, her phone was unlocked when stolen, but the Revolut App required a passcode or fingerprint to gain access. She had not written the passcode anywhere on her phone or phone case. She tried to contact Revolut immediately to block her card and notify them of the phone theft.

Gross negligence is the only reason a bank might not refund lost money in cases of unauthorised payment fraud. The Ombudsman decided Ms L had acted reasonably and her actions were not grossly negligent. Indeed, they also pointed out that Revolut accepted Ms L’s phone had been stolen and that the disputed payments were unauthorised.

Ms L’s complaint was upheld, and Revolut was ordered to refund all the money plus 8% interest from when the transactions were made.

Mr A’s phone was stolen in April 2023 and used to make unauthorised transactions. Revolut acknowledged this and refunded some of the money. However, a further £3000 had been transferred to another of Mr A’s accounts (with a different provider), used to purchase cryptocurrency and moved to unknown accounts. Revolut refused to refund these transactions, and Mr A complained to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

The Ombudsman considered evidence from both Mr A and Revolut and concluded that at the time Mr A’s phone had been stolen, it was unlocked. His passcode could have been compromised earlier in the evening when paying for drinks at a bar using ApplePay. Revolut had not disputed these facts but argued that any further loss (after Mr A’s money had been transferred to his other account) was not their responsibility.

The Ombudsman concluded that all the transactions were unauthorised and, therefore, Revolut should refund Mr A the remaining sum, including interest, at 8%.

Ms T held accounts with Revolut and another bank. She had been contacted by fraudsters posing as her other bank, a type of impersonation scam, which usually ends with authorised push payment fraud (APP fraud). In this case, they did not directly ask her to authorise financial transactions, instead instructing her to transfer money to her Revolut account and set up a new virtual card, claiming this would give her continued access to her money. She was asked to share the details with the caller, who claimed they would contact Revolut to keep the card active.

A virtual card is a payment card that only exists in digital form: it has a 16-digit card number, a 3-digit security code and an expiry date, just like a traditional bank card. Unfortunately, this was all the information the scammer needed to be able to set up Google Pay on their own device, with access to Ms T’s funds. The scammer went on to spend Ms T’s money using Google Pay: she lost £1762.92.

Revolut refused to refund the money, so Ms L made a complaint to FOS. The Ombudsman upheld her complaint, saying that, although she had shared virtual card details and a one-time code, Ms L believed the person calling was from her bank, feared losing her money, and followed instructions she thought were genuine and intended to protect her funds.

Revolut was ordered to repay the amount in full, plus 8% interest.

Sarah Spruce, Partner and head of the fraud and scams team at TLW Solicitors, says:

“These case studies highlight different ways thieves and fraudsters can access your money. Scammers try to keep one step ahead of banks’ security measures and use a variety of tactics to obtain your information.

If you have lost money due to unauthorised transaction fraud, speak to your bank immediately, contact the police and report your case to Action Fraud, the national fraud and cybercrime reporting centre.

While we are dealing with a significant number of compensation cases for authorised payment scams, my colleagues and I are seeing an increasing number of claims relating to UNauthorised payments, similar to the cases highlighted above.

If your bank refuses to refund the money you have lost, help is available – contact my team and we can see if you may be eligible to make a ‘no-win, no-fee’ refund claim.”