Revolut doubles financial crime headcount to combat frauds

By Gloria Methri

Revolut, the global financial superapp has expanded its Financial Crime headcount, doubling its size since 2021. Recognising the critical role of human intelligence in fraud detection and prevention, alongside cutting-edge technology and AI, Revolut said it is committed to tackling the rising threat of financial fraud with a 360-degree approach.

In response to this threat, where over £1.12 billion was lost to fraud in the United Kingdom in 2022, Revolut is investing in top talent to help tackle fraud.

In recent times, due to the increased sophistication of fraud prevention technologies used by businesses, fraudsters are shifting from ‘fraud’ to ‘scams’. Data from UK finance reported an 18% decline in unauthorised fraud 2021-2022 compared to APP Fraud which increased; accounting for 41% of all fraud losses in 2022 in the UK.

Despite this industry rise in scams, Revolut claims success in staying ahead of criminals; having today reported a 35% reduction in APP Fraud on its platform since June this year.

Aaron Elliot Gross, Revolut Head of Financial Crime and Fraud said, “We increasingly see fraud being perpetrated by sophisticated, organised, and ruthless networks of criminals who target our customers primarily via social media platforms and use social engineering techniques to convince them to make payments. In order to stay ahead of the curve, we are committed to investing in top talent in this space, including expert anti-financial crime professionals, talented data scientists, and front-line staff to provide support to customers who fall victim to fraud. We also continue to invest in cutting-edge AI technology to detect unusual payment activity and protect our customers.”

Over the last year, Revolut has reported a doubling in the number of scams beginning on the four major social media platforms where currently two-thirds of all Revolut attempted fraud is initiated.

The company has successfully onboarded and continued to upskill, FinCrime experts from leading financial institutions including NatWest, TSB, Klarna, EY, and MUFG. Revolut’s experts bring a wealth of qualifications, market knowledge, and a diverse skill set to the table.