Revolut confirmed on Wednesday that it was targeted by an identity theft scheme in which a third party posing as a government agency tricked the company into handing over customer data, though no customer funds were compromised.
A spokesperson for the banking group told the Lusa news agency that Revolut had recently identified a sophisticated identity theft scheme carried out by third parties, in which an unauthorised entity used an email address with the domain of a legitimate government agency to send fraudulent requests for information.
The company said that as soon as the situation was detected, the email address was immediately blocked and the relevant government agency was alerted, along with police authorities, data protection bodies and financial regulators.
No funds affected, Revolut says
Revolut said its own systems and customer funds were not affected by the breach. The company said a limited number of people were targeted and that affected customers had been contacted directly to be informed of the incident and offered support.
According to a source close to the matter cited by the AFP news agency, 680 customers were affected. Revolut did not confirm whether any Portuguese customers were among those whose data was exposed.
What data was exposed
According to the Financial Times, the leak involved customer addresses, verification photographs, identification documents and information related to bitcoin activity.
The newspaper said it had contacted the hackers who claim to be behind the incident, who reportedly exchanged emails with the bank for several months while posing as the fake government identity. The targets were clients holding significant volumes of cryptoassets, particularly in Switzerland and France.
UK regulator reviewing complaint
The UK's Information Commissioner's Office, the country's data protection authority, confirmed to AFP that it had received a complaint and was reviewing the information provided.
About Revolut
Founded in 2015, Revolut was one of the pioneers of mobile-based financial services and now has more than 80 million customers worldwide. It initially focused on currency conversion and simplified money transfers for users.
The speed of the company's expansion has drawn criticism over its ability to comply with financial regulation, particularly around fraud and money laundering.
