Revolut customer left ’emotionally sick’ after thieves steal his phone and spend £56,000

A Revolut customer became ’emotionally ill’ after his phone was stolen and the financial firm allowed the criminals to spend £56,000 on cryptocurrency and luxury goods.

The fraudsters attempted 28 different transactions totaling £100,000. Of those, only one – worth £5,690 – was picked up by Revolut. Fortunately, more were refused by the shopkeepers.

The 53-year-old travel agency owner, James Smith (not his real name), then called the app company every day for nearly two weeks to claim the money back, but to no avail. It was an experience that he says left him feeling “mentally and physically” sick.

He has called on Revolut to “go a step further” and make its systems more secure.

It started when Smith stole his mobile phone from his pocket while attending the Royal Ascot races late last month.

Smith’s phone was stolen around 5 p.m. on June 24, and his first concern was the loss of the valuable gadget.

But just a few hours later, at 8 p.m., the thieves started taking money from his Revolut account using his phone.

Somehow, the criminals managed to bypass all security features and stole money with impunity.

Smith immediately contacted Revolut, which he said reassured him that it was investigating the fraud.

But thieves made £100,000 in transactions within 10 hours, including buying cryptocurrency and making huge purchases from luxury brands Dior, Harrods and Burberry.

These transactions include purchases of up to £10,550 from Dior and £5,890 from Burberry.

Fortunately, about half of the attempted £100,000 worth of transactions were rejected by the luxury goods retailers.

However, the remaining purchases were still allowed to be spent by Revolut and Smith was left with around £56,000.

Revolut blocked Smith’s card at 12:25 a.m. on June 25. But by that point, the damage was already done – and the criminals still managed to spend around £13,000 after the card was blocked.

The only payment attempt blocked by Revolut was £5,690, for high-end Burberry goods.

Revolut requires customers to prove their identity for some large transactions via a message on their mobile phone – but since the fraudsters had his phone, that didn’t help.

“My life has changed,” Smith said. “Revolut failed to protect me. I initially went with Revolut because they make it really easy to spend money abroad, but they need to step up and make it more secure.

“Not only should they add a push notification, but you should answer personal questions before a transaction can go through.

“I am emotionally ill. My blood pressure is out of control and my heart is beating 130 times a minute. My mental and physical health is deteriorating – I can barely get up.’

Banks use a patchwork quilt when repaying victims of fraud.

If a customer has stolen money through no fault of their own, banks are obliged to return money.

But if a customer is tricked into losing money, only half of banks pay fraud charges. This is a sticking point for victims of trust cheats – or those who have had phones or laptops stolen that the banks believe are partly to blame.

All of Smith’s other bank and credit card companies immediately blocked his cards, including Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Chase, American Express and HSBC UK, and he lost no money from any of these accounts.

With more than £50,000 lost, Smith contacted Revolut employees every day for updates on his case.

But nearly two weeks later, on July 6, Revolut Smith employees told them they would need another 14 days to investigate.

Smith then contacted This is Money, who intervened on his behalf. Two days later, Revolut apologized and refunded Smith’s £56,000 in full.

We asked Revolut how this could happen and how it would prevent the same from happening to other customers.