The British FinTech says sensitive information from a “limited number” of customers was exposed in a scam in which an unauthorized third party used a legitimate government email domain, Bloomberg News reported Saturday (Sept. 12).
Revolut said it had blocked the address after uncovering the scheme and notified the “relevant government agency,” as well as financial regulators, law enforcement and data-protection officials, the report added.
“Revolut systems and customer funds are unaffected,” a Revolut spokesperson told Bloomberg via email. “We have contacted the limited number of impacted individuals directly to inform them and provide support.”
The incident was first reported by TechCrunch, which obtained a copy of the notification email Revolut had sent to affected customers.
According to that message, the exposed data included customers’ identity and contact details, such as birth date, postal/email addresses, and phone numbers. The scammers also accessed identity documents like passports and driver’s licenses, and may have also seen verification selfies, account statements, and transaction histories.
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Meanwhile, recent PYMNTS Intelligence research looks at the use of banking information by businesses to prevent fraud.
“Businesses may be able to strengthen their fraud defenses by putting the bank connections they already have to fuller use,” PYMNTS wrote last week.
However, the research shows that while almost all companies surveyed had secure access to customer bank data with permission, under half of them rely on those connections to generate fraud alerts from account activity.
The report drew on a survey of 150 senior executives across seven industries that deal with substantial payment flows.
Although 57% of companies reported an uptick in fraud attempts from a year earlier, the findings suggested companies have room bolster protection using tools already in place, like the broader use of existing account data.
The research showed that 69% of firms use secure bank connections to access account and routing numbers, though only 49% use them for real-time fraud signals, a 20-percentage-point gap between two uses of the same capability.
“Think of it as a security camera that checks identification at the entrance but could also help monitor activity inside,” PYMNTS wrote. “For payment teams, the practical step is to assess whether account activity can help distinguish higher-risk transactions before money moves. The report recommended matching the depth of verification to the risk of each payment.”
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