At the end of November I was sent a message supposedly from my mobile provider, EE, which said they had been unable to process my monthly payment. This was plausible because I had recently replaced the bank card which I used to pay the bill. I followed the link and entered my Monzo bank card details.
The next day Monzo contacted me to state that my account had been compromised. The person asked me if I had been asked for my bank details recently and I told him about the message from EE. It soon emerged that someone had made a £214 payment to a company I’d never heard of – Bunq. I was given to believe that I would reimbursed.
A few days later I called Monzo to ask when I would be reimbursed only to learn my account had not been locked, the person I was speaking to had no record of the conversation. I am now being told that I will not be reimbursed because I “approved the transaction”. This is not the case. In fact, I was a victim of fraud and do not believe that I was grossly negligent as implied by the bank. Can you help?
MM, London
This is the first complaint that we have ever received about the online bank Monzo which so far has been the subject of almost universal acclaim. It has a reputation for having strong security measures in place, so your tale – particularly the fact that your account had remained unlocked after the fraud emerged – was something of a surprise. You were seemingly the a victim of a “phishing” scam in which the fraudster impersonated both EE and Monzo. The bank has since recognised this, and that your experience wasn’t up to its usual standards. It has credited you the £214, and added an extra £75 for any inconvenience caused.
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