Cryptocurrency-friendly neobank Revolut said it has prevented millions of dollars in potential customer losses from fraudulent crypto transfers over the past three months
Revolut said on Oct. 7 that it blocked up to $13.5 million worth of “potentially fraudulent crypto transfers” between June 1 and Sept. 1, 2024, according to an announcement sent to Cointelegraph.
“The company’s proactive approach has seen it significantly enhance its crypto-specific security measures recently, which has led to an increase in the amount of potential fraud it has prevented,” Revolut said.
Revolut claims it saved customers over $590 million from potential fraud in 2023
Revolut estimated it saved customers more than $590 million in potentially fraudulent transactions in 2023, according to Woody Malouf, the company’s head of financial crime and fraud.
Malouf elaborated that such potential fraud cases include schemes like celebrity endorsement scams, deepfakes and artificial intelligence-generated scams.
Revolut saved more than 475 million British pounds ($590 million) in potential fraud in 2023. Source: Revolut
“We mean it when we say we take security seriously — and that absolutely includes crypto,” the exec stated. He specified that Revolut’s security measures include monitoring patterns of suspicious activity, two-factor authentication and “award-winning support” that is available 24/7.
How exactly does Revolut’s crypto anti-fraud tool work?
Revolut’s cryptocurrency anti-fraud mechanism aims to protect investors by signaling potentially suspicious transactions to users.
When customers initiate a crypto transfer, Revolut’s algorithms monitor the transfer in real time and provide in-app warnings if the system detects suspicious activity.
“Revolut’s system is designed to handle genuine transfers efficiently,” the firm said, adding that the platform completed 92% of all crypto transactions without requiring any additional information from the user.
“For the remaining 8%, additional reviews have been necessary to ensure compliance with fraud prevention, Anti-Money Laundering regulations and other safeguards,” Revolut stated, adding:
“Only 1 in 5,000 transfers leads to account closure after further review — that’s less than 0.02%.”
Emil Urmanshin, director of crypto and new bets at Revolut, said that the platform has been “constantly fine-tuning” its transfer process since launching crypto withdrawals and deposits. He stated:
“We follow strict financial regulations to create a secure environment for all of our customers’ crypto transactions. This starts from the second they sign up — from monitoring patterns in suspicious activity to identity checks, and using two-factor authentication.”
Revolut also provides a bonus layer of biometric protection with its “Wealth Protection” feature. Disabled by default, the feature allows users to only proceed with withdrawals requiring a selfie verification.
Related: Crypto phishing scams drained $46M in September
Cointelegraph approached Revolut for a comment regarding the identification process of suspicious crypto activity on its platform but did not receive a response by publication.
Criticism of Meta’s fraud prevention efforts
Revolut’s latest update on crypto anti-fraud efforts came shortly after the company called on Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta to share the cost of compensating fraud victims and criticized its fraud prevention efforts.
The neobank argued that Meta platforms “remain the main source of all scams” reported to Revolut in the first quarter of 2024, accounting for 62%.
Bloomberg reported in September that Revolut came under fire in 2024 due to a surge in fraud complaints, with some investors suffering up to $14,000 in losses due to scams through their Revolut accounts.
The Guardian also reported in April 2024 on an investor who lost 40,000 pounds ($52,300) on Revolut due to a scam, with Revolut rejecting a refund.
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