Revolut revealed its latest scam data for 2023, revealing that the majority of all its reported scam cases in the UK started on Meta Platforms. Across its UK customer base in 2023, Revolut found that 60% of all of its reported UK scam cases originated from just three sources: Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.

Additionally, 33% of the total value of all money lost to scams began on Meta platforms across the same period. The use of Meta platforms as the primary originator of scams is only increasing, rising from 52% of all reported cases in the UK in the first half of the year, to 66% in the six months to the end of December 2023

The figures showed a similar trend across Revolut’s European markets, with 61% of all EEA (European Economic Area) reported scam cases originating from Meta, and 37% of the total value of all money lost to scams, starting from the social media giant.

59% of all money lost to scams came through investment scams

Revolut found that a range of scams were being used to con people. The two most common types were Investment Scams, where individuals are promised “get-rich-quick” opportunities in exchange for “investing” large amounts of money, and Purchase Scams where people are conned into buying items that don’t exist or aren’t as advertised. 

Revolut’s data showed that 59% of all money lost to scams came through investment scams in 2023, despite only representing 17% of the total number of cases, showing that life changing sums of money were being lost across comparatively few cases. Conversely, Purchase Scams were the most common type of scam, representing 50% of UK scam cases across the same period, but less than 6% of the overall value lost, showing that smaller scams were more common but with lower monetary losses.

Revolut found that criminals preferred using the internet as a way to con people out of their money, with 86% of all scams in H2 2023 committed online, whilst scams carried out over the phone represented just 11% of all cases.