Fintech giant Revolut is rolling out in-app calls to help retail customers quickly expose impersonation scams.
The new feature is designed to tackle the common scams that see crooks pretend to be working for a bank to convince victims to send them money or share sensitive details.
By creating an app-native feature that criminals can’t replicate, Revolut says it can offer a secure method for its customers to speak to its customer support staff. The vast majority of calls being made from Revolut customer support to retail users will now be conducted in-app. The feature will also soon come to business customers.
Woody Malouf, head, financial crime, Revolut, says: "We know that the most effective way to stop a scam is to break the spell as fast as possible, before any money has been transferred. That’s why we are providing for our customers innovative solutions that help them uncover a scam quickly.
"The vast majority of our calls to individuals will be through our app, so if you receive an unplanned call regarding your personal account from somebody claiming to be Revolut, put the phone down and check through the app that they are who they say they are. Speaking to someone through our app means customers can be 100% sure they are talking to Revolut and not a fraudster."
Revolut says the number of impersonation scams affecting its customers are now at their lowest level in nearly two years, even as the company’s customer base has grown by tens of millions of people.
However, the fast-growing firm - which has 50 million customers worldwide and 10 million in the UK - has previously been at the centre of high levels of fraud complaints.
In October, the BBC reported that the fintech was named in more reports of fraud in the last financial year than any of the major High Street banks. The firm, which received a provisional UK banking licence in July, was at the centre of nearly 10,000 complaints to the UK’s leading reporter for fraud and cybercrime, Action Fraud.