Revolut suffers cyberattack due to systems failure, loses several million dollars

A flaw in the payment system of the Revolut finance company in the US allowed criminals to perpetrate a cyber-attack and misappropriate more than $20 million of its funds for several months in 2022, although isolated cases were already detected in 2021.

The problem was related to discrepancies between the US and European financial systems. Taking advantage of this glitch, anyone could initiate a transfer that would later be rejected, forcing Revolut to refund money that was never transferred. These purchases would later be cashed out through ATMs by means of a refund.

The fraud affected Revolut's own corporate funds rather than customer accounts. The fintech's monitoring systems failed to detect the massive fraud and the problem came to light when a partner bank in the US notified the fintech that it had less cash than expected, the Financial Times was told.