Another revolut user scammed

I am very cautious to much money in my Revolut account. I mainly use it to transfer pocket money to my son each week.

Over at BoI, I was away on holidays in France and was buying something in Foot Locker. The transaction wouldn't go through. I got a text from BoI saying they had blocked the transaction. If everything was ok, text Yes, which I did and it unblocked the transaction. Slightly inconvenient at the time, but given the amount of hacks that go on, I'd prefer to keep my money in a bank with robust protections.
 
Steven Barrett said:
I am very cautious to much money in my Revolut account. I mainly use it to transfer pocket money to my son each week.

Over at BoI, I was away on holidays in France and was buying something in Foot Locker. The transaction wouldn't go through. I got a text from BoI saying they had blocked the transaction. If everything was ok, text Yes, which I did and it unblocked the transaction. Slightly inconvenient at the time, but given the amount of hacks that go on, I'd prefer to keep my money in a bank with robust protections.
Click to expand...
Same. Yesterday I was at Lidl and I had forgotten to up the spend threshold on my Revolut / forgot to bring my BOI credit card before I left home. Had to go home to fetch the credit card. If I was to use Revolut I'd have had to get out my second phone that I leave at home to up the spend limit in the Revolut app. On Saturday night I went to a bar and made just enough money available in my spend limit for a few pints.
 
dubliner8 said:
On Saturday night I went to a bar and made just enough money available in my spend limit for a few pints
Click to expand...
But that doesn't protect you against unauthorized bank transfers out of your account which seems to be the typical form of fraud with Revolut. Seems to be a systemic problem that regulators should look into along with how Revolut fobs off victims.
 
tomdublin said:
But that doesn't protect you against unauthorized bank transfers out of your account which seems to be the typical form of fraud with Revolut. Seems to be a systemic problem that regulators should look into along with how Revolut fobs off victims.
Click to expand...
Well I don't have the Revolut app on the phone I go to bars, supermarkets with etc. So that would be some protection. But I meant I do this to avoid a thief being able to use google pay as happened to me in April. Yes, this other type of fraud is concerning of course.
 
Is it possible to remove Google Pay from Revolut's top up methods?

I don't have any linked accounts or cards but Google Pay seems impossible to remove.
 
There have been people reporting on Reddit of their phone having been set up on Apple Pay (when they have an Android and not an Apple device) in another country, or on google pay when they didn't have this set up. Then transactions were done and Revolut refusing to refund/do a chargeback. I'm not sure on Google pay as top up, how does that work? I have my credit card set up as the top up method, I was hoping not having the app on the phone I use would prevent this type of fraud.
 
Imagine the public outcry if it was AIB or BOI or PTSB.

Revolut has a huge number of cheerleaders which seems to prevent them getting too much bad publicity despite what seems to be a substantial level of account frauds on their customers.

I currently have €8 in my revolut account. If someone uses Revolut to transfer money to me, I transfer it out once it gets to €100. Just can't trust them
 
peemac said:
Revolut has a huge number of cheerleaders which seems to prevent them getting too much bad publicity despite what seems to be a substantial level of account frauds on their customers.
Click to expand...

I don't agree with that.

The Irish Times and the Irish Independent frequently cover losses/scams via Revolut.

I don't know if they are more common on Revolut than with AIB and BoI.

But when victims can't get talking to real people raises their annoyance level and makes them more likely to go to the press.

And when Revolut routinely blame the victim while AIB and BoI routinely refund the customer means that Revolut gets more publicity and not less.
Brendan
 
how does this scam work - I think the last time Pope reported on this, people here were sceptical of the victim's claim they'd never given their card details away. Is there any other possibility? To add a card to Apple Pay you need the card number and I assume some sort of verification via the Revolut app. I know when i spend money on Revolut I get a notification on my phone as well though I don't know if I'd still get that if the card was on someone else's phone.
 
shweeney said:
how does this scam work - I think the last time Pope reported on this, people here were sceptical of the victim's claim they'd never given their card details away. Is there any other possibility? To add a card to Apple Pay you need the card number and I assume some sort of verification via the Revolut app. I know when i spend money on Revolut I get a notification on my phone as well though I don't know if I'd still get that if the card was on someone else's phone.
Click to expand...
Yeah I get the same when I try and add it to Android pay. Is it just them getting the notification and authorising it without realising what it was for until the money starts leaving their account.
 
I can’t escape the feeling when reading of some of these scams, that many people don’t really understand the technology here, and how they might have been compromised.

In the article, the fraud victim is quoted as saying:
“my Apple Pay account, which I do not have”
And also:
“In addition, they referenced the last four digits of a mobile number, 9012, not mine, which allegedly accessed the Apple Plus account that does not exist.”

This reads to me that they don’t really understand that apple/google pay are not accounts.

Additionally, the reference to 9012, is very probably the variant card number that apple pay gets from your main card number (the last 4 digits are different in apple pay cards when the transaction is actually being performed) - and that’s how revolut can tell that it was made that way, rather than as a pure card transaction. I don’t see how a second mobile number would be involved, as Revolut accounts are tied to a single number.
 
My reading of the article was the the person didnt have Apple Pay /Google Pay installed, or use either of those products.

so how is the scam perpetrated?
 
DannyBoyD said:
how is the scam perpetrated?
Click to expand...
In their reply to the IT Revolut concedes that the client was targeted by criminals. In their response to her they claim that she authorized the transactions. *If* both claims are true, she would have been conned into authorizing the payments, e.g. on some fake shopping website or something like that.
 
tomdublin said:
In their reply to the IT Revolut concedes that the client was targeted by criminals. In their response to her they claim that she authorized the transactions. *If* both claims are true, she would have been conned into authorizing the payments, e.g. on some fake shopping website or something like that.
Click to expand...
Understood.

So the scammers use the mobile / card details on a fake Apple or Google Pay?
 
There’s a paradox here in that fintechs probably have the best security systems and features but are more likely to be targeted by criminals.

Simply put, they have an order of magnitude more users globally than an Irish retail bank will. For a criminal group, finding a vulnerability in a fintech will pay off at scale in a way that just won’t for a smaller bank. There is a folk belief that hackers are lone operators in their parents’ box room. The truth is very different: these are criminal gangs with hundreds of employees on another continent.

Also bear in mind that “normal” looks very different for a fintech than a retail bank. Per head a lot more customers are using a fintech in different continents in different currencies and indeed online. So thresholds for suspicious activity are simply set differently.
 
DannyBoyD said:
So the scammers use the mobile / card details on a fake Apple or Google Pay?
Click to expand...
Possibly not. The alleged victim seems very confused and keeps talking about Revolut referencing her "Apple plus account." Could have been regular Revolut in-app verifications she inadvertently accepted.
 
Last edited:
I have just subscribed to the Irish Times to read that article. The victim does not appear confused in the slightest, not sure how tomdublin got that impression. What does it matter that Apple Pay is said and then Apple plus later on, I wouldn't put too much stock in that.

"Naturally I denied that I had approved any of these transactions. They investigated the matter briefly and claimed that the amounts were verified through my Apple Pay account, which I do not have. The agents insisted I had entered authentication codes to verify the payments, which I did not," writes Caoimhe.
"In addition, they referenced the last four digits of a mobile number, 9012, not mine, which allegedly accessed the Apple Plus account that does not exist. I also tried to impress on the different agents I managed to speak to that I never click on emails, texts or answer calls that are suspicious but to no avail. No responsibility was taken for the complete lack of any robustness within their security system that clearly is not fit for purpose."

Regardless of whether Caoimhe appears confused - though I don't think she is - that Revolut just flat out refuse in these cases where the victim has vehemently declared that they did not authorise is quite wrong and it's allowing fraudsters to continue to fleece people.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top