Fraudulent charges drained my account; Monzo not responding via chat or email and nobody answers the phone

Monzo USA 🇺🇸
1

2 1/2 days ago someone fraudulently drained my Monzo account of all the money that was in it ($1210) with very sketchy charges that were all presented to Monzo with a wrong address attached, yet they were all approved despite me notifying them via chat within minutes, while they were still pending.

Although it happened on Saturday, a chat rep did respond right away, which I appreciated, although reviewing that chat now, I’m suspecting it was an AI bot.

Now that the charges have gone through I was able to fill out a fraud report. The “rep” I chatted with on Saturday verified my address “to send you a new card” but my account is still open (I froze it myself), so I don’t think a new card has actually been processed, and if it has, I’d like to confirm what kind of time frame to expect

I haven’t been able to get any response from Monzo via chat or email since the rep (or AI bot) told me Saturday they were “referring it to an account manager”. Yesterday an email rep said they would look into it if I provided specific information, but when I replied back with the requestedinformation I never get a response.

I’ve sent probably 30 additional chats saying “please respond,” “looking for an update,” “did you send a new card,” "what is the time frame for fraud claims " etc since then and have received not a single response in the last 2 business days.

Nobody ever answers the phone number (which I had to really hunt around to find online, as it’s not on my card or on the app that I can see) and there’s no way to leave a message.

Until now I’ve been pleased with Monzo but this is ridiculous… Why would a bank just completely ignore a customer?

I’m at my wits end and I’m not sure what to do. I want even able to confirm whether the fraudulent charges were presented via my debit card as opposed to using the back account information, so for all I know the though the card is frozen, as soon as my paycheck hits tomorrow it will also be stolen (the fraudulent attempted charges have continued, multiple times per day).

I also need someone to confirm for me that my freezing the card and getting a new debit card sent to me, my scheduled payments that are set up via back account (such as for my mortgage, etc) will still go through

I’ve been using Monzo to have my paychecks deposited into and to pay all my bills, so this is creating serious havoc with my finances and I can’t even confirm that someone is looking into it.

Anyone have any suggestions on how I can actually get someone at Monzo to respond?

2

Waiting like many for the ombudsman to deal with monzo appalling service.

3

This is my monzo nightmare, that I have a problem with fraud and the customer service don’t respond. Must give serious doubts to using monzo. If they can’t resource fraud prevention then they are not really viable as a bank,

2 Likes
4

If you’re going to rule out a bank based on lies on the internet, there won’t be any banks left for you to use.

6 Likes
5

What the hell? This ridiculous comment got 4 like s?!.

Why would I lie? So insulting and just rude and stupid.

The rep in the app chat finally got back to me on Thurs 10/31 which is 5 days after it happened and 4 business days. She apologized, stating “were experiencing a high demand for support at the moment.”

She confirmed that they are opening up a fraud investigation (and also that they had not yet time so) and confirmed that whoever I spoke with on Saturday, the day it happened, never requested for me to have a new card mailed or my current card shut down.

She said she would expedite a new card to me. She didn’t give a time frame for either the new card to be received or the fraud investigation, but it was very very nice to finally hear from someone.

It may or may not be related, but after work Wednesday I filed an FDIC complaint bc I didn’t know what else to do. Seems unlikely that it had anything to do with them contacting me like 18 hours later, but who knows.

About an hour ago, I asked on the chat when I can expect to receive my card. I got what appears to be an either automated or AI response welcoming me to Monzo and thanking me for deciding to bank with them. They said that cards usually arrive in a week. I responded that I was told it would be expedited, and I’m waiting for a response from that - it’s “only” been 2 hours, which is to me not acceptable from a bank, but hey.

I think that if they are going to operate in the US with whatever partnership they have with Sutton Bank, they need to also have Sutton 's customer service people or bank reps provide service for Monzo customers.

I’ll be honest, after spending so much time dealing with this and stressing and still being out $1220 (keep in mind that all the transactions were presented without a card and with a wrong address/zip code provided, but Monzo approved them anyway) it’s really insulting to have someone accuse me of lying on the internet.

6

I completely agree with this. I love Monzo 's budgeting options. Through Monzo I feel like I have control over my finances in a way I’ve ever had before. Obviously I love a lot about Monzo, because I’ve decided to stay with them (unless they somehow find that the charges weren’t fraudulent, but I can’t imagine that happening).

They absolutely need to outsource fraud investigation/prevention and basic customer service.

7

Whatever you did online at some point in time, they definitely got your card details.

I don’t think outside of the EU requires verification through the app for online merchants.

Just complain, and wait for the response.

8

Any idea how long it should take them to complete the fraud investigation and let me know the results?

I assume it takes a while probably at least a month or something, but I have no idea.

I ask because I have asked Monzo through chat, email, and Twitter DM and although I did finally get my “expedited” replacement card yesterday, 11 days after the fraud occurred and I reported it, they have continually not answered this question.

9

Latest update:

The card was delivered through FedEx yesterday after work, around 5 pm. 11 days from the fraud occurring, me freezing my account and notifying them, and a chat rep confirming my address and stating she would send out a new card.

Per FedEx, it was not shipped until Monday 11/4, which is odd since the rep who finally responded through chat 10/31 said she would expedite it. One week is expedited, I guess.

I asked earlier this week through the chat what kind of time frame to expect, and I got back a message welcoming me to Monzo and telling me to be patient as a new customer bc it takes some time to open an account and get a card out.

But hey whatever- I got the new card and activated it last night - went onto every online payment that’s tied to the card and changed the details, added it to my Google wallet etc

Just tried to use it at Wendy’s and it failed - I check my account and what do you know, they finally “blocked” the card (not sure how that’s different from when it was frozen, which I did within minutes of the fraud), but they did it after I already activated the NEW CARD.

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10

At least I can finally see proof that they’re actually investigating the fraud, 10 calendar days (7 business days) after my account was drained.

Sadly I can no longer recommend Monzo to friends and family, bc this is an unacceptable level of customer service.

And to top it off, they sent me a new card and then blocked that!

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