{"id":773915,"date":"2026-09-17T19:32:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T19:32:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/773915\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T19:32:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T19:32:15","slug":"revolut-reportedly-facing-3m-ransom-demand-after-hackers-steal-hundreds-of-customers-data-revolut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/773915\/","title":{"rendered":"Revolut reportedly facing $3m ransom demand after hackers steal hundreds of customers\u2019 data | Revolut"},"content":{"rendered":"

Revolut is facing a reported $3m (\u00a32.2m) ransom demand after hackers posing as government officials accessed the data of hundreds of the bank\u2019s cryptocurrency customers, including one victim who says he fears for his safety.<\/p>\n

Europe\u2019s largest financial technology company confirmed last weekend that it had fallen victim to an impersonation scam in which hackers compromised an Italian government email system to contact Revolut staff and request personal customer details.<\/p>\n

While the data breach only affected about 680 of Revolut\u2019s 80 million global customers, it is believed to have targeted customers with suspected cryptocurrency holdings.<\/p>\n

It is not clear how the scandal might affect Revolut\u2019s much-anticipated stock market debut, with Revolut\u2019s founder, Nik Storonsky, telling Les Echoes on Thursday<\/a> that there were plans for a dual listing in both London and New York.<\/p>\n

One of the alleged hackers has reportedly threatened to publish the customer data unless Revolut pays a $3m ransom, according to the Financial Times, which has been speaking to the purported hacker. A Revolut spokesperson said the bank \u201chas not received any direct contact or demand from the individuals or group making these claims\u201d.<\/p>\n

But some victims have said they fear they could end up being forced to face ransoms.<\/p>\n

The former chief executive of failed bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox, Mark Karpel\u00e8s, said he was one of the victims of the data breach and is now worried about his family\u2019s safety. \u201cI have kids, we\u2019re living together. My address is in those files, so of course I\u2019m worried about this,\u201d he told the Guardian.<\/p>\n

He has since contacted law enforcement in Tokyo, where he lives, after saying in an X post earlier this week that he feared he could be \u201ckidnapped or dead\u201d by the time Revolut gave him more substantial information about the breach.<\/p>\n

Karpel\u00e8s said he was relieved that Japanese officials were taking the threat seriously, \u201cbut I might still have to travel overseas or be in places that may not be as safe\u201d.<\/p>\n

The French businessman, who has been a Revolut customer since 2023, said that hackers may have mistakenly targeted his account, thinking he was wealthier than he actually is. He said he was forced to declare bankruptcy in the wake of a high-profile court case in Japan.<\/p>\n

Karpel\u00e8s is a controversial figure in the crypto world. He was charged, but later acquitted, of embezzlement<\/a> by Japanese courts, following the collapse of the crypto exchange platform in 2014. He was found guilty of falsifying data.<\/p>\n

Karpel\u00e8s said he has joined a victim chat group on X in the wake of the data breach, where customers having been sharing information and support. \u201cWe\u2019re all in the same situation, which is: we don\u2019t know exactly what happened, or how it happened, so we\u2019re trying to get as much information as possible,\u201d he said. He added that one of the victims got in touch with the purported hacker, who showed they had the victim\u2019s personal details on hand.<\/p>\n

The hacker then said they would delete the information, but only if they were sent $50,000, Karpel\u00e8s said.<\/p>\n

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While Karpel\u00e8s was frustrated with Revolut, which was valued at $115bn in a secondary share sale earlier this summer, he does not believe the bank should pay the $3m ransom, which ultimately gives no guarantee that the data will be deleted.<\/p>\n

It is still not clear how many hackers are involved, and requests for the ransom to be paid through a platform known as Monero, meaning there would be no evidence or receipt of payment, allowing the hacker to claim they never received the money in the first place.<\/p>\n

Karpel\u00e8s hopes Revolut will share more information about the breach.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is very, very damaging [for the Revolut brand] because I do believe a lot of Revolut customers are more likely to be privacy sensitive,\u201d he said, noting that this was usually a high priority among people invested in cryptocurrencies.<\/p>\n

A Revolut spokesperson said:\u201cRevolut recently identified a sophisticated external impersonation scam where an unauthorised third party utilised a legitimate government agency domain email to submit fraudulent requests for information.<\/p>\n

\u201cUpon detection, we immediately blocked the address and alerted the relevant government agency as well as enforcement agencies, data protection, and financial regulators. Revolut systems and customer funds are unaffected. We have contacted the limited number of impacted individuals directly to inform them and provide support.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Revolut is facing a reported $3m (\u00a32.2m) ransom demand after hackers posing as government officials accessed the data…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":773916,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[84,59,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-773915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-gb","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=773915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773915\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/773916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=773915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=773915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=773915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}