Australia bans some card fees; Revolut tops UK fraud reports | PaymentsSource

U.K. challenger bank Revolut was named in 9,973 fraud complaints in 2023, according to the BBC, which cited information recovered from the U.K.’s fraud reporting center under a Freedom of Information request.

This compares with 7,874 at Barclays, 7,395 at Lloyds, 5,467 at HSBC, 4,803 at Monzo and 1,029 at Starling.

Revolut has about 45 million customers globally, though the U.K. is its home country and largest market, with about 9 million customers. The BBC report comes as Revolut calls for Meta to reimburse victims of fraud linked to the social media giant’s platform. Meta has started collecting information about fraud from U.K. banks, and Revolut says 62% of the scams that target the challenger bank globally derive from Meta’s platforms.

In an email, Revolut’s public relations office said, “We are sorry to hear of any instance where our customers have been targeted by ruthless and sophisticated criminals. Revolut takes fraud and the industry-wide risk of customers being coerced by organized criminals incredibly seriously.”

Revolut contends that in 2023, it reduced the number of fraudulent transactions in the U.K. by more than 20% and prevented more than $600 million in potential fraud losses globally, while adding more than one million new consumers each month.

Revolut’s financial crime prevention team makes up more than a third of the company’s workforce, and the company has built artificial intelligence models to spot and block fraudulent transactions using hundreds of internal and external data points, Revolut said in its email, adding it “abides the the same regulatory standards as any high street bank.” —John Adams