Differences in the US and European payment systems became an excuse for scammers to gradually withdraw more than $20 million from the accounts of the US division of fintech startup Revolut Nikolai Storonsky. The issue has been relevant since 2021, but the company has not announced it. in public.
The Financial Times was able to find out from three informed sources that in total, the attackers stole $23 million from the company in 2022, but some was recovered.
The key issue was the automatic return of funds from the company’s own accounts in case of rejection of certain transactions, which is due to differences in the rules for processing payments in the US and Europe.
It is assumed that the scammers made expensive purchases or convinced people to make them and then declined the transactions, after which they charged the returned funds to the account.
The publication’s sources claim that the issue first became known in late 2021, but the first fraudulent transactions were made only in early 2022.
Due to the targeted actions of the attackers, Revolut was unable to detect a massive withdrawal of funds, and only the partner bank announced the magnitude of the losses: it notified management that the company’s accounts had far less funds than they should have. .
There is no mention of the problem in company reports. Revolut representatives claim that the startup fixed the issue in mid-2022, returning part of the (smaller) funds. According to the FT, almost $20 million was never recovered and the company is yet to comment publicly on the situation.
The publication’s analysts also recall that the amount withdrawn is two-thirds of the profit officially announced by the company for 2021 (it amounted to $31 million).
Recall that in May 2023, Revolut entered the Latin American market, beginning to provide investment services in Brazil. But with the UK temporary difficulties arose. To obtain a company license, several conditions must be met: reduce the number of types of shares from six to one, expand the board of directors and strengthen technological expertise.
Author:
Ekaterina Alipova
Source: RB
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