Revolut, the global financial app with more than 40 million customers worldwide, has announced the release of its first Financial Crime and Consumer Security Report, containing exclusive scam and fraud insights.
The report, based on extensive internal research and data analysis, “aims to shed light on the growing scam and fraud industry globally and provide tangible watch-outs to help people protect themselves.”
Revolut plans to revisit this data on “an ongoing basis to track the fraud landscape.”
Revolut’s report divulges the growing threat of scams, “which robbed global citizens of over USD $1 trillion in 2022, according to GASA (Global Anti-Scam Alliance & ScamAdviser, Global State of Scams report).”
Revolut data shows this phenomenon “continued to surge last year, with the fraud landscape undergoing significant changes, marked by the strengthening of fraudulent techniques aimed at extracting sensitive account details and personal information for financial gain.”
Financial criminals have intensified their efforts, “employing sophisticated tactics such as deceptive websites, elongated payment chains, and social engineering attacks to ensnare victims.”
To combat these threats, Revolut remained proactive “in staying ahead of the dynamic fraud landscape in 2023.”
It implemented enhanced security features, “including biometric authentication and proactive payment flow warnings, while also prioritizing scam education initiatives through its in-app Learn program to empower customers with the necessary knowledge and tools to protect themselves against malicious actors.”
Last year Revolut’s proprietary fraud detection system, powered by machine learning and artificial intelligence, “prevented over £475 million in fraud against customers.”
The report distinguishes between Unauthorized Fraud, “characterized by criminals hacking into an account against the victims permission, and Authorized Fraud (i.e. ‘scams’), deceptive practices that convince a victim to enable a payment to be made.”
According to the report, social engineering continues “to be a significant driver for both types of fraud but it has a stronger impact when it is used to perform Authorized Fraud.”
Indeed, although 62% of Revolut victims in 2023 “were defrauded by Unauthorized Fraud, the average loss per victim was GBP 110, against an average of GBP 1,400 per person lost per authorized fraud.”
Woody Malouf, Head of Financial Crime at Revolut, said:
“Protecting our customers from the growing threat of scams globally is paramount to us at Revolut. Our first-ever Financial Crime and Consumer Security Report not only sheds light on the evolving landscape of fraud but also equips individuals with the knowledge they need to stay vigilant. With our advanced fraud detection systems and commitment to innovation, we’re empowering our customers to safeguard their finances and navigate the digital world with confidence.”
Unauthorized Fraud Trends:
- Card Fraud: constitutes 98% of all fraud cases, with common tactics including Phishing attacks. To contrast these techniques, Revolut’s virtual disposable cards offer enhanced protection since they can be used only once, resulting in significantly lower fraud rates compared to traditional cards.
- Physical Theft: despite impacting only 1% of the victims, physical theft drove 39% of all unauthorized fraud losses experienced by Revolut’s customers in 2023. Nowadays, fraudsters are operating in structured criminal networks, able to watch how people are using their phones and capture passcodes with attentive techniques. To reduce this risk it is important to always be vigilant of the surroundings when adding a pincode and not to store the login credentials on the phone.
Authorized Fraud Trends:
- Job scams: have surged over 1200% over 2023, targeting young individuals seeking employment opportunities.
- Investment scams: increased by 142% last year.. The majority of these scams offer Bitcoin, or other crypto investment opportunities. The anonymity that crypto offers has attracted scammers who offer higher guaranteed returns on crypto investments.
- Purchase scams: remain the most popular type of scam across every country, constituting 63% of all reported scams in 2023 but less than 15% of the overall value lost.
