Revolut has accused social media giant Meta of being by far the most significant source of fraud across its business in a scathing report released on Friday, supporting recent research by the Good Money Guide on the threat of Facebook financial scams to UK consumers.

Meta financial scams accounted for 62% of all fraud reported to Revolut globally in the first half of this year, the global banking fintech group stated in the second instalment of its Consumer Security and Financial Crime Report.

This figure is only slightly down from the second half of 2023, when Meta accounted for 64% for all scams reported to Revolut.

Revolut’s latest report supports recent research by the Good Money Guide, which highlighted that UK consumers lost £75 million to financial scams on social media in 2022, with Meta financial scams snaring the most consumers 

According to police data obtained by a freedom of information (FOI) request in January,  Consumers made 3,597 reports to police in a year about investment frauds on social media, with Meta’s image sharing app Instagram cited in more than half of cases, as its users lost a total of £7,026.

Scams on Facebook accounted for nearly half the amount of money lost to fraud alone, however, at £33 million. Just over 1,190 users of the social media site lost £27,333 each.

In the latest data from Revolut, Facebook was the most common source of fraud cases, with 39% originating from the site and making up the bulk of Meta financial scams. This was followed by Meta’s Whatsapp instant messaging service, at 18%.

Telegram, another popular instant messaging service, accounted for 12% of reported fraud. It has been in the news recently after its founder Pavel Durov was arrested in France in August in relation to alleged criminal activity on the app.

Globally, 60% of Revolut’s customers who fell victim to fraud around the world were caught up in purchase scams, in which fraudsters sell non-existing products. Fake job scams also doubled  from 9% at the end of 2023 to 18% by the end of June 2024.

Revolut calls on Meta to share reimbursement cost

Revolut, which said it prevented over £475 million in potential fraud against its customers last year, said it should not bear the costs associated with reimbursing victims defrauded due to Meta financial scams.

It comes after Meta stated it will launch a data-sharing partnership with UK banks and financial institutions  to prevent fraud. Meta intends the project, known as the Fraud Intelligence Reciprocal Exchange (FIRE), to help identify and eliminate scam accounts across its platforms.

In a statement accompanying the release of its report, Revolut criticised this approach, arguing that it was wrong to place the responsibility on financial institutions to supply data to combat Meta financial scams and that the social media group should share the cost.

Revolut’s head of financial crime Woody Malouf said: “We are confident in the steps the UK government is taking to tackle fraud, but what is urgently needed now is for Meta and other social media companies to commit to supporting victims of fraud in the same way financial institutions do. Their silence on this issue says it all.

“We are prepared to do our part to keep customers safe, and so should they. We should be the last line of defence, not the only line of defence.”