Monzo Fraud Refunds & Complaints

Authorised push payment (APP) fraud is one of the quickest growing scams, with around £145 million lost in the first half of the year – 44% higher than the same period in 2023. APP fraud is when a scammer tricks someone into sending them large amounts via bank transfer. 

They will likely pose as a trusted person or as someone from your bank and claim that you have been the victim of fraud and that, to protect your finances, you need to move money into a different bank account. They will pressure you into acting quickly but in reality, this will be the scammer asking you to send the money directly to their bank account, before disappearing and ignoring all further communication. 

Phishing scams are a common scam and have been used to target Monzo customers in the past. Scammers will use the digital banking aspect of Monzo in an attempt to trick the victim into sharing sensitive information, for example, to confirm their identity or to add further security to their account. Victims will be asked to upload a photo of themselves or a form of identification, such as a passport or driving licence to confirm their identity, or click through a link to submit this information. 

Scammers may also send messages which give the impression that they are contacting the victim on behalf of Monzo. The messages may find themselves integrated amongst other legitimate messages received by Monzo, giving them the appearance of being real. The scammer may also call you and use clever tactics so that the phone number appears as the real Monzo phone number. These elaborate tactics are all used so that you trust the caller and give them the information they require, or make the transactions that they request. 

Monzo is a digital bank which operates solely through an online banking app. It offers full current accounts for personal and business use, as well as integrated savings accounts. It is a banking account that is very easy to set up and use, promoting itself to be a fun and easy way to bank. But, as it is a sole online banking entity, this then attracts a whole range of different scams and fraud schemes targeted towards its digital users. 

Monzo is seen as being as safe as any other bank, as it is protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) for up to £85,000. However, this doesn’t mean that it always provides compensation for customers who have lost money to Monzo scams and fraud. 

Monzo has one of the lowest refund rates amongst the major banks and, currently, it has not officially signed up to the CRM code. They have, however, said in a public statement that they will adhere to the guidelines and principles, meaning that they should be investigating and refunding cases of fraud and scams in the same way that code signatories do.