Revolut insists systems are secure as customers tell of losing funds to scammers

It comes as the Irish Independent queried a number of cases with ­Revolut where its customers experienced fraudulent activity or had their accounts shut down without explanation.

The customers who lost money to scammers had been told by the payments app they were not due refunds, even though they insist they did not do anything wrong.

In each of the cases, Revolut investigated the situations, but offered responses that did not satisfy the customers or failed to give an explanation.

However, Revolut has since refunded money and it reinstated a number of accounts after this publication questioned what had happened to the customers.

One reader said her account, her husband’s and those of her three sons were shut down with no explanation.

“Out of the blue, our accounts were frozen and then we were told to take any money out but could no longer use ­Revolut. It happened to each of us over the course of a few days,” she said.

“None of us have done anything we shouldn’t have done and makes no sense.”

After being contacted by this publication the accounts were reinstated, but no reason was given for why they were shut down in the first place.

Revolut told the woman: “Our team has reviewed your case, and I’m pleased to inform you that your account has been secured and reactivated.

“We are sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you, and for what happened in the first place.”

Revolut said it could not reimburse a pensioner who has been scammed out of €8,000 after she received a phone call from a person claiming to be from Revolut.

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In another case, a man said: “I attempted to use my Revolut card at a petrol station, but it did not work. Upon checking my Revolut app, I discovered several fraudulent transactions that had occurred at 3am that morning.”

He noticed that €9,500 was fraudulently transferred to an account in Malta, another €1,500 and €500 were transferred into a bitcoin account, and an attempt was made to withdraw a further €100 from his account.

Revolut froze his account and he is still waiting to have the matter resolved.

In another case, an accountant got an email telling him his account was to be closed and that he had 60 days to withdraw all funds.

“I am baffled as to why this is happening, I do not even use it that much, the last time I really used it was just over a month ago on a day trip,” he said.

After media intervention on the ­accountant’s behalf, the matter was resolved.

Asked if its systems were being hacked, Revolut responded following publication of this article to say: “Revolut systems continue to run without issue, which includes the robust protections we have in place for our millions of customers.”

It was also asked if Irish people would be wise to avoid using ­Revolut for their main current account as some say the company is hard to deal with when there is a problem.

It said: “We are very sorry to hear about any instance where our customers are targeted by ruthless and highly sophisticated criminals.”

It said fraud cases at Revolut represent a very small percentage of its large and expanding customer base, but protecting customers is always its top priority.

“Revolut takes fraud and the industry-wide risk of customers being coerced by organised criminals incredibly seriously,” it said. “We have robust protections in place for our millions of customers and analyse over half a billion transactions a month.”

It said it offers support on its app, via chat, “because it’s the most secure method to communicate with customers”.

The Banking and Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) said fraudsters stole almost €100m through frauds and scams last year from customers of AIB, Bank of Ireland, and PTSB.

The figures do not include fraudulent activity on Irish Revolut accounts, the BPFI confirmed.

This article was updated on May 3rd to include Revolut’s response to a question on whether its systems had been hacked.