Revolut says Meta pilot bank program to fight fraud in Britain not enough

Oct. 3 (UPI) -- British financial tech firm Revolut slammed Meta's plan to expand its current fraud-fighting program with banks in the country, saying that the parent of Facebook is not doing enough for the victims of such scams.

Revolut, which has more than 45 million customers globally, said Meta's plan falls "woefully short" of what is required, particularly when Facebook is one of the dominant sources used by cybercriminals.

The firm said 39% of victims were victims of fraud by cybercriminals through Facebook, more than double the next media platform. The messaging service WhatsApp, also owned by Meta, accounted for 18% of fraud sources, making Meta outlet responsible for more than half of the fraud interactions.

"The emphasis is once again being placed on financial institutions to supply data on scams seen on Meta platforms, rather than Meta investing more to monitor their own site," Revolut said in a statement.

"This initiative is only focused on the U.K., where fraud is a global issue impacting consumers and businesses across many countries. Still, no commitment to share in the reimbursement of victims defrauded on Meta platforms, despite the company potentially profiting from fake and fraudulent adverts."

Meta touted that it has identified 20,000 fake accounts through its information-sharing pilot program it has with British banks, called the Fraud Intelligence Reciprocal Exchange, or FIRE. Meta said it now plans to expand the program beyond NatWest and Metro Banks.

"These are baby steps when what the industry really needs is giant steps forward," Woody Malouf, Revolut's head of financial crimes, said in a statement. "These platforms share no responsibility in reimbursing victims and so they have no incentive to do anything about it. A commitment to data sharing, albeit needed, simply is not good enough."