A UK-based financial technology firm reported that over $56,000 was stolen from a client by a scammer through a messaging chat, Reuters reported.
The scammer introduced himself as a Revolut staff member warning the client of suspicious activity on his account and had advised to log onto an app where personal information was required.
The scammer was then able to access the client’s account and emptied it. The client was refunded the amount stolen from him after 10 weeks.
The financial technology firm said the security lapses stemmed from phone numbers which can be faked or ‘spoofed’ by fraudsters, rather than due to its app, adding it was rectifying shortcomings in its response to fraud.
Another client was deceived through text messages.
Scammers in these SMS-message or ‘smishing’ attacks use security holes in the text messaging system to ‘spoof’ or impersonate a company’s phone number.
Revolut said all its customer interactions are done by in-App chat and it never calls users or invites them to log into websites in this way.
