Anatomy of a Revolut scam

Brendan Burgess

Brendan Burgess

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Good article by Conor Pope

www.irishtimes.com

Anatomy of a Revolut scam: Peter watched helplessly as thousands drained from his account

Pricewatch: The live chat with the help desk was genuine, the phone call and ‘verification’ request were fake
www.irishtimes.com www.irishtimes.com

1) He got notification of a false transaction, and rejected it.
2) He contacted Revolut to report it
3) While using live chat, and awaiting a response, he got a phone call from Revolut, or so he thought.
4) The guy said it had been escalated to him and told him to close the live chat session which he did.
5) He then provided the caller with all the information needed to clear out his account.

Brendan
 
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He found it very difficult to deal with Revolut when he realised that he had been scammed. Multiple calls with different people and chatbots.

Revolut told the Irish Times

“We take our responsibility to protect and support our customers extremely seriously and have made significant investments in our systems, processes and people to ensure that our customers are safe and supported. A Revolut customer waits on average fewer than three minutes to speak to one of our customer support agents. The experience of [Peter] fell below our usually high customer support standards. We apologise for the distress this episode caused him and we are reimbursing him in full.”
 
Revolut's chat help leaves a lot to be desired.

I set up revolut sometime during the lockdowns just for the odd transfer. A few weeks later there were 2 attempted transaction in a London shop that used the virtual card. I didn't even get a physical card because I didn't need one and I hadn't even looked at the virtual card in the app.

I got bumped around several chat agents and was told it must have been my fault and that I either used the virtual card number online or my phone was compromised. Neither of which could have been possible

These transactions only failed because of insufficient funds. It was disgraceful how I flagged these transactions (revolut didn't) and the only response was it had to be my fault.

But yes, their customer support is great because each of the 6 different agents responded to me in less than 3 mins...
 
The one occassion I had to initiate conversation with the chat agent with Revolut, the experience left a lot to be desired. A transfer payment into my revolut account was failing, but after a frustrating 30+ minutes I left the chat. They are working multiple issues at once, so there is a lot of dead time between giving them the info and they responding back.

Find revolut great but I only use it for small purchases / everyday things.. so very limited funds in the account at any one time.

The scam above does show how people get pulled in very very quickly... it's easy to panic when you think money will be taken from your account...
 
One lesson for me (in the context of the Irish Times article) is to freeze your card(s) before doing anything else.

I use both Revolut and N26 (free accounts in both cases) and N26 is light years ahead in terms of chat responsiveness and competence.
 
Number one benefit to Revolut especially when travelling, keep the balance low, freeze card if needed & set a limit on your contactless payments.

I have little faith in any online 'chat' support these days and avoid like the plague.
 
So the key message here is that if a real human rings you claiming to be from Revolut, it's a scam.

What is missing from the OP is how did someone know that the victim had contacted Revolut. Was there spyware on their phone or PC or were Revolut compromised themselves in some way and won't admit it.? I presume the former is what has happened here.

As for vaults, they would be as prone to the main account to being exploited if the account holder is being scammed in this way.
 
Peanuts20 said:
how did someone know that the victim had contacted Revolut.
Click to expand...

1) Could it have been a random call?
2) Or they had his contact details and Revolut card details. They tried to make a payment knowing it would bounce, and then rang to discuss unauthorised activity on his account.

I would consider myself to be alert.
But if I were asked to approve a payment which I had not made and so refused to authorise it and shortly afterwards got a call from Revolut to discuss it, my guard might be down and I just might be taken in.

If, as in this case, they asked me for a code over the phone, I think I would be suspicious.

But it's no like AIB or Bank of Ireland, where you can actually call them. You can't hang up on your caller from Revolut and ring Revolut.

Brendan
 
The scammer didn't need to know that the victim had contacted Revolut as the scammer already had the card details and could have run the phone conversation two different ways depending on what the victim said. The victim could just as easily not have been notified of the transaction by Revolut, received the phone call, been told by the scammer that there had been a fraudulent transaction and ended up the same way. All the scammer needed was the card details and contact details of the victim (and the victim's cooperation after that).

The scam was worked through the card rather than transfer from the account so any funds in vaults would have been safe
 
The scammer probably just guessed that he had contacted support. If the scammer is correct it makes them look legit. If they are wrong they can just dismiss it and say that the colleague who referred it to them said you did, they must have put that down accidentally or something like that.
 
Herbie said:
The scammer didn't need to know that the victim had contacted Revolut as the scammer already had the card details and could have run the phone conversation two different ways depending on what the victim said.
Click to expand...
The scammer would still have needed the Revolut card no AND the customer's phone number.

That points to hacking of some database or phishing of the same customer on a prior occasion.
 
NoRegretsCoyote said:
The scammer would still have needed the Revolut card no AND the customer's phone number.

That points to hacking of some database or phishing of the same customer on a prior occasion.
Click to expand...
I did say that the scammer needed both details in my previous post. I agree that it points to the victim's data being compromised at an earlier time.
 
NoRegretsCoyote said:
The scammer would still have needed the Revolut card no AND the customer's phone number.
Click to expand...

Correct. The article says that the scammer had the victim's virtual card details. And we know that the scammer phoned the victim. We don't know how the scammer obtained this information. One possibility is that the virtual card details and contact phone number were entered on an online shop that was compromised.
 
Moral of the story: with Revolut and self service app based banking, freeze cards at first sign of something not right, ask questions later.
 
In light of this incident, I am thinking of using my work landline number as a contact number for future online purchases. Doing this would keep my mobile number away from online shops that risk being compromised. Mobile numbers have become sensitive pieces of personal information because they are often linked to bank accounts, and used to authenticate transactions.
 
Firefly said:
I keep all my Revolut money in Vaults. My accessible balance is therefore always zero apart from when making a purchase/sending payment, where I will briefly withdraw from the Vault to the main account.
Click to expand...
I do this but with N26.

Do any of the major Irish banks support this feature? Or would you have to have multiple accounts with them?
 
Páid said:
I do this but with N26.

Do any of the major Irish banks support this feature? Or would you have to have multiple accounts with them?
Click to expand...
Most banks do not offer this so you would have to have multiple accounts.
 
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