Making it clear when we’re on a call with you to protect you from fraud

If someone calls you claiming to be from Monzo, you can now check to see if they’re telling the truth or not in the Monzo app.

It’s a new feature we designed to stop fraudsters from tricking you into sending them money by convincing you they work for Monzo.

If we say we’re not talking to you, hang up

Here’s how it works. If someone calls and tells you they work for Monzo, open your Monzo app and head to ‘Privacy & security’ in Settings by tapping your profile in the top left of the Home screen.

If the ‘Monzo call status’ is showing that a member of the Monzo team isn’t talking to you, hang up right away and report it to us. You can start a report by tapping the call status.

A screenshot of the Privacy and Security screen in the Monzo app showing the Monzo Call Status. An orange icon with a crossed-out phone shows a message that says: "We're not talking to you, if someone is telling you they're from Monzo, hang up now"

If the call status in your app shows that a member of the Monzo team is on the phone with you, you’re okay to continue the call.

A screenshot of the Privacy and Security screen in the Monzo app showing the Monzo Call Status. An image of a Monzo customer service agent is showing, with a message that says "Talking to you now - Hawa from Monzo"

The call status doesn’t lie

Even if the person you’re talking to tries to tell you there’s a technical issue or that they’re from a specialist team that wouldn’t show on the call status, don’t believe them. Hang up and report the attempted fraud to us through the app.

For times where you’re not connected to the internet, the call status will reflect that. In this situation we recommend that you don’t speak to anyone claiming they’re from Monzo until you’re connected to the internet again and can check the call status.

A screenshot of the Privacy and Security screen in the Monzo app showing the Monzo Call Status. An grey icon with a crossed-out phone shows a message that says: "No internet, don't answer. It's safer not to answer calls from anyone saying they're from Monzo now"

Things we’ll never ask you

Remember, we will never call you without arranging it with you first through in-app chat. And if we do call you we’ll always make sure we go through some security questions before discussing anything to do with your account.

We’ll also never ask you to:

send money to a holding account, safe account or any other account
withdraw money from a Pot
make a payment or send money for any reason
accept a notification on your phone
ignore a fraud or payment warning
give us your PIN or any personal information
take out a loan or use Monzo Flex.

Protecting you against impersonation scams

Last year alone, people in the UK lost around £170 million to impersonation scams. Which is the very type of scam this new feature helps protect you against.

An impersonation scam is when a criminal pretends to be someone else so they can encourage you to send them money. It’s sometimes called a bank transfer scam or authorised push payment fraud.

By adding the Monzo call status to your app we’re making it possible for you to confirm whether who you’re speaking to is really from Monzo or not. Our hope is that this could stop instances of impersonation scams for Monzo customers altogether.

People are using this to report fraud 700 times a month

Since we launched this feature, we’ve seen approximately 700 fraud reports each month directly within Call Status.

Now it’s live and protecting customers, our next step is to think about how to make it more visible. Privacy & settings – where it lives now – is a natural home for it, but we think it should appear elsewhere too. Somewhere more visible and easier to find if you’re on a call and you want to quickly check that who you’re speaking to is who they say they are.

Stay tuned for updates.