Revolut goes to war. “It's a breeding ground for fraud”
Revolut argues that social media is a “breeding ground for fraud” – it is where the largest number of scams come from, to which Poles are also exposed. Fintech calls on the European Union to increase consumer protection.
Revolut calls on governments of European Union member states to act more decisively in the fight against it the plague of online fraud, most of them have their own beginning on social media platforms.
According to Revolut data for 2023, Meta platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp, Messenger) 61% of all frauds and 40% of total amounts stolen. Revolut also found that the most common types of fraud affecting customers were shopping and investment fraud, accounting for 70% and 12% of reported cases respectively.
Poles are also exposed to this threat. In the second half of 2023 73% fraud reported by clients from Poland had its beginning in social media (68% on Meta platforms). In Germany this percentage was 68%in France 69%in Spain 77%in Ireland 79%in Italy 81%in Romania 82%and in Hungary 83%.
Revolut demands tougher action
In 2023, the European Commission presented new legislative proposals, including: regulation of payment services (PSR), aimed at releasing funds by banks for fight against “bank employee” fraud. EU Member States are currently finalizing their positions on what the EU's rules for detecting and preventing fraud should look like. However, Revolut data shows that impersonation scams this is only 4% of all cases fraud in 2023.
Revolut therefore calls on the institutions of member states and the EU to do so have done more and helped fight fraud at sourcewhich are mainly social media platforms, instead of focusing only on scams involving impersonation of bank employees.
Our data shows that there is still a lot to do: especially when social media platforms, mainly Meta, remain “hotbeds of fraud”. If we are to combat fraud comprehensively, we must take action at every stage of fraud. Therefore, we ask Member States and the EU to help BigTech companies effectively detect and eliminate fraudulent content at source, using appropriate tools and mechanisms.
– said Woody Malouf, Head of Financial Crime at Revolut.
Woody Malouf argues that finance ministries across Europe can propose legislative measures encouraging BigTech companies to take responsibility for combating financial fraud targeting customers from the European Union. According to the head of the financial crime department at Revolut, banks cannot be the only line of defense against fraud.
How are we deceived on social media?
Revolut has determined that among fraud initiated on social mediareported by European customers in 2023, two methods dominated.
The first one is investment fraud, during which the fraudster promises victims the opportunity to get rich quickly in exchange for investing large amounts of money. Even though investment fraud accounts for only 12% of cases, they account for 61% of the money lost.
Second st shopping fraud, where people are tricked into purchasing items that do not exist or are not as advertised. This type of fraud accounts for 18% of money lost and even though it is not the most damaging in terms of amounts stolen, it is most common type of fraud (70%). Most cases of this type of fraud come from shopping platforms where there are no buyer protection mechanisms and a system of messages warning against excessive risk.
