Revolut faces fraud lawsuit in the UK after losing EUR 700,000 to scammers


The proceedings could potentially see Revolut pay a Serbian energy company EUR 700,000 as part of a fraud claim, disputing the ease that fraudsters can operate with on the fintech platform. According to documents filed at a London court, Terna Energy Trading directed its bank to send the sum to a Revolut account it believed belonged to a business partner, with the former alleging that a 22-year-old Czech fraudster was the holder of the account. The incident took place in 2022 and the allegations were included in court documents filed for an administrative court hearing over costs in London on 29 November 2024.

Revolut faces fraud lawsuit in the UK after losing EUR 700,000 to scammers

 

Initially, Revolut’s payment system froze. However, as detailed by Terna’s lawyers, it then approved the transfer of the sum. Due to the clearance leading to various alerts triggered within the defendant’s systems, the funds were unfrozen and almost all of them were dispersed by the scammer upon release by the defendant to the fraudster’s Revolut account, lawyers stated. Additionally, even if Revolut operates a sizable regulated financial services business, the company offers no immediate measures of communication by which it could receive suspected fraud reports. Besides the repayment of EUR 700,000, Terna also seeks interest from Revolut.

On the other hand, as mentioned by its lawyers, Revolut denies the claim, asking a judge in its defence to decide that it is lawful for it to retain the EUR 700,000 on the basis that it obtained the funds in good faith. At the time of writing, no Revolut representative commented on the matter any further.

No action after being scammed through Revolut

The current lawsuit comes just over a month after Revolut faced scrutiny after over 100 customers contacted BBC in regard to being mistreated after being scammed. The news followed a BBC Panorama investigation into the fintech, revealing that it was named in more fraud complaints than any other major UK bank in 2023. Also, customers mentioned that they were not safeguarded when targeted by scammers. After the investigation was completed, more than 100 individuals came forward to BBC and shared their experiences with how Revolut treated them after being scammed. Among them was an NHS consultant who lost nearly EUR 47,000 in May 2024 when fraudsters deceived them into transferring money into their Revolut account and providing access to it.
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