Conor Pope just does not like Revolut

It’s instructive that the spelling and grammatical errors that some people laugh at in many of the scam emails are actually deliberate.

A proper scam has a number of steps and the scammers don’t want to waste time, effort, and resources on people who’ll detect the scam at a later stage.

So the scam emails are crafted in a way to create a funnel of well, stupid people, who give the scammers the highest probability of success.
 
AI is most likely going to catapult the sophistication of scams by an order of magnitude. Combine this with the fact that people are so used to delegating their security to organisations that they're in general fairly naive themselves and it's going to be painful.
 
You certainly feel stupid if you are scammed but I am somewhat alarmed at the superiority attitude of some people here. There is always a story behind the scam that starts 'Yes ..but...'.

Most modern scams are targeted at people who are vulnerable in some way (obviously none of you lot)
Someone who's smart but busy is likely to fall for certain types of scams. And if you did would you tell anybody here?

The boss email is one ..how could somebody fall for that etc. which is not helpful.
 
I agree. I feel sorry for anyone who gets scammed. It's a horrible thing to happen and not helpful (or nice) to stigmatise the victim as being stupid etc. I know some people on here say otherwise, but my view is that it can happen to anyone.
 
I got scammed when I was 20 in a confidence trick. Best lesson I learned. Out of pocket €60 but it was a great lesson. Brilliantly orchestrated feeding off competitive emotions. I actually sat back after it and marvelled at its execution.

I have not being stung since.

That was not in the digtial age so with all these warning I wonder how its done with such ease
 
arbitron said:
This is like a stranger calling to your front door and asking if they can try on your diamond necklace.
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It's like a stranger asking if they can take your diamond necklace home with them and if you ask if they are legit they tell you their "staff ID number" and claim that they have two children.
 
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Telling people the the stove is hot doesn't tend to work. You need to touch the stove to learn not to touch it. The younger it happens you the better.
 

I worked for years in a catchment area where 1 in 5 adults was functionally illiterate. They were not stupid people but they found appointment letters and even text message reminders very difficult to understand. Banks, hospitals, and many other institutions often use formal and unnecessarily complicated language which makes things much worse. Have a look at any official correspondence and you will see "whilst", "thereafter" and multi-syllable words thrown around like confetti.

Then there are people with dyslexia, vision problems, anxiety, etc. which are all legitimate and fairly common problems that influence how we interact with the world. Some of us are probably stupid, all of us do stupid things, but there are also many people who are more vulnerable to highly targeted, manipulative behaviour.
 
arbitron said:
This is like a stranger calling to your front door and asking if they can try on your diamond necklace.
Click to expand...
It's like a stranger asking if they can take your diamond necklace home with them and if you ask if they are legit they give tell you their "staff ID number" and assure you that they have a wife & two children.
arbitron said:
but there are also many people who are more vulnerable to highly targeted, manipulative behaviour.
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I empathize with them but since they are aware of their limitations they shouldn't be putting themselves into situations where can be scammed easily, e.g. by opening an online account. Any consumer protection legislation by necessity has to differentiate between cases involving negligence and other cases where victims deserve compensation.
 
Maybe having tiered variations on account types could help. If you're 'vulnerable' you have the option of a different type of account that is more restricted. Trading some degree of freedom for protection. Perhaps you could have a designated person (i.e. friend or family member) who is required to sign off on any atypical or large transactions.

The current state of institutions trying to protect everyone (while also being tasked with KYC/AML burdens, but that's another matter) are creating frictions for everyone.
 
Revolut customer service is absolutely atrocious. At least AIB or BOI etc try to understand and help at an individual level but Revolut have more of the Ryanair approach and don’t often even seem to comprehend the issues. I queried an old transaction with them once and they had all cards blocked for no reason and it took 3 ‘agents’ and an hour to get them unblocked, the original issue long forgotten about.

Eg refused for a revolut loan via app, who knows why, it doesn’t even tell you, defrauded and money being spent in Thailand, when you clearly are not there, your own fault etc etc.

Conor Pope has illustrated a few incidents with them, probably of the 100s he gets sent about them as he has with some of the other famous bad customer service places like Ryanair, Eir etc. the fact there is no closure on the revolut ones is just illustrative of how little they care.
 
You know it is possible to feel sorry for the victim of the Revolut scam and at the same time think that they were stupid.

It’s terrible, the perpetrators are scum, it’s very tough on the victim, but the victim can still be classed as foolish.
 
jpd said:
Makes me glad I don't rely on Revolut for my banking
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I actually love revolut and use it for all day to day spending, and one time use cards for 90% of online spending, for the last 4 years. However I’ve had 3 or 4 bad experiences with them locking accounts, so I’ve never put my wages in there or leave more that 1k or so with them. Its. A bit like Ryanair, useful but you have to know what you are getting in to, good service until something goes wrong, just be careful that they can’t mess you up too much. Eg I use Ryanair happily on my own, but never with family as if it goes wrong they are absolutely useless.
 
Calico said:
I know some people on here say otherwise, but my view is that it can happen to anyone.
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I suppose anyone could get scammed.

But could a reasonably alert person take a phone call from someone claiming to work for Revolut and then input all their passcodes and probably their passcodes for AIB as well?

Sure, I have got texts from An Post about customs just as I was expecting something anyway and thought "Oh, good it's arrived in the country" before quickly realising this is a scam. But if I had fallen for it and you called me "stupid" I would have to agree.

This BBC journalist bought a dehumidifier from a scam website. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001xm9d

Immediately after paying for it she noticed the next item on the Google list was the Trustpilot page describing it as a scam website.

I was looking for something which I knew would be hard to find and found a website which had it and I was delighted. Then I checked Trustpilot to find it a scam website.

I am sure that I will be scammed at some stage in my life. And I know clever people who have been scammed. But they acted stupidly when being scammed.

Brendan
 
Brendan Burgess said:
This BBC journalist bought a dehumidifier from a scam website. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001xm9d

Immediately after paying for it she noticed the next item on the Google list was the Trustpilot page describing it as a scam website.
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I listened to that programme in real time and immediately concluded that she was an fool - or looking for an opportunity for content. Absolutely ridiculous 30 minutes by BBC R4.
 
ClubMan said:
Absolutely ridiculous 30 minutes by BBC R4.
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Whatever about the motivation, I don't agree with your summary.

I agree that she was stupid in not checking Trustpilot first.

People will have learnt the following if they did not know.

1) Many review sites are fake.
2) Many reviews attributed to well known people are fake.
3) Many websites are fake - so check with Trustpilot before you buy.
4) You have a right to return anything bought online , for any reason, within 14(?) days.
5) Some retailers will evade this right by making it very difficult or expensive for you
6) There is a warehouse in Britain supplying false dehumidifiers and other fake electronic equipment.
7) It is very difficult for the authorities to do anything about this.
 
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