A clash has emerged between banks and major tech companies regarding who should carry the main responsibility for reimbursing fraud victims.
This conflict arises as UK banks are now required to fully compensate fraud victims, with reimbursements of up to £85,000. Additionally, it follows a recent announcement from Meta, which aims to share data with UK banks to combat fraud.
Revolut, a UK challenger bank, has criticized Meta’s data-sharing plan as insufficient for tackling the fraud issue. “These plans are baby steps, when what the industry really needs is giant leaps forward,” said Woody Malouf, Revolut’s head of financial crime. He emphasized that both victims and financial institutions ultimately bear the costs, suggesting that these platforms have no accountability in reimbursing victims and, therefore, lack the motivation to improve the situation.
Malouf highlighted findings from Revolut’s Consumer Security and Financial Crime Report, which indicates that platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, and Telegram account for 69% of reported scams in the first half of 2024. He expressed concern that Meta’s data-sharing initiative mainly requires financial institutions to provide data to Meta rather than the tech giant investing in better monitoring of its platforms.
While the initiative addresses a significant challenge for UK consumers—£460 million lost to Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud in 2023—it remains a global issue. In response, Meta has urged Revolut and other banks to participate in its collaborative projects.
“Fraud is a multi-sector spanning issue that can only be addressed by working collaboratively,” a spokesperson from Meta stated. “Our pilot Fraud Intelligence Reciprocal Exchange programme is designed to enable banks to share information so we can work together to protect people using our respective services. We encourage banks, including Revolut, to join this effort.”