A woman who lost €10,000 to a Revolut payment app scam has pleaded with people to stay vigilant.
Alice Coyle recalled the "clever" Revolut scam where cyber frauds stole the large sum through a fake Electric Ireland text, Dublin Live reports.
She told Galway Beo: "At 14:26 on Tuesday 25th May 2023 I got a text (SMS) from +353892159661 Electric Ireland: Your last payment didn't go through. To avoid disconnection visit https://electricireland-payonline(dot)com to update your account. I knew I needed to do it at some stage as I'd just received the Electric Ireland bill the day before, it was literally sitting there on my desk open."
She noted that the bill was for an apartment she manages with guests in it and she didn't want them to be without light or heat.
A number of her personal details such as address and debit/credit card details were asked for after she accessed what she believed was the Electric Ireland website. She completed the details and continued to Revolut.
"I check the web address, it’s partially obscured but I can see ‘Revolut.com’ in the URL box, so I think 'Oh it must be fine' and I enter my 4 digit passcode. I don't remember what happened next, it must have just said it's completed and I went back to work.”
Minutes later she received a call from someone purporting to be "Andrew from Revolut". He told her someone had tried to take €5,000 from her account and warned her that she had been scammed.
He said he could get her money back and all she needed to do was to approve three payments of €5,000.
"Andrew re-assures me that they can get the money back. I was now in a total panic, but also so relieved Revolut were on the ball enough to catch it so quick. He says if we act fast we can reverse the payments. He says that I should receive an in-app message any minute now asking to approve the payment. I do. It says 'Binance' are looking to withdraw €5,000. He says I need to authorise it in order to reverse it. I click the big blue Authorise button. He says 'great'," she informed.
After authorising a second payment she begins to question if Andrew is really who he says he is and asks him. With his polite Irish accent he gives an email to contact and end the call.
"I had just lost €10,000. It's not even my money to lose. Either way, it's gone," she conceded.
A Revolut spokesperson said: "Revolut is deeply concerned that large numbers of frauds are being enabled by criminals using fake social media adverts, fake texts and, fake and spoofed phone calls. It is vital that criminals are stopped at the source, from using convincing-looking phone calls, texts and social media advertisements, otherwise they will only step up their efforts to trick people into handing over their money.
They continued: "Revolut has been engaging extensively with the government and industry over recent months in an effort to ensure that telecoms and tech firms take responsibility for these fake calls, texts and websites which enable frauds like this one."
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