Hackers Leak Revolut Customer Data, Demand 10,000 Bitcoin Ransom
Attackers who successfully tricked financial technology firm Revolut into handing over customer records have published the personal data of high-profile clients over the weekend. The group is demanding a ransom of 10,000 Bitcoin, warning on September 14 that they would escalate the daily release of stolen information until the European fintech complies.
Revolut confirmed on September 12 that an unauthorized party had impersonated a government agency. The attackers sent fraudulent requests for information using an email address from the agency’s legitimate domain, complete with valid technical authentication, which staff processed as a routine legal request.
The data breach, as previously reported, includes the disclosure of passports, verification selfies, account statements, and IBANs, alongside names, dates of birth, and home addresses. A Revolut spokesperson stated the company “recently identified a sophisticated external impersonation scam where an unauthorized third party utilized a legitimate government agency domain email to submit fraudulent requests for information.”
The group, identifying itself as Revolut Smilik, has posted client files across several Telegram channels. They have warned that they will “start releasing more and more data every day until Revolut pays for leaking their customers.”
The leaked details posted by the hackers include information on several customers, such as tennis player Alexander Shevchenko and Gamdom CEO Felix Römer.
The published material appears to contain data on prominent individuals, including company executives, sports professionals, and performing artists, according to The Register. The publication estimated the 10,000 Bitcoin ransom demand to be worth more than $782 million. Revolut has declined to comment on the ransom demand.
The company stated that it blocked the unauthorized access upon detection and has alerted the relevant government agency, law enforcement, data protection, and financial regulators. Revolut also confirmed that its systems and customer funds remain unaffected. The firm indicated that a limited number of customers were impacted and that it has contacted them directly, without disclosing the exact number of affected individuals or naming the compromised agency.
Earlier, Revolut had stated that the biometric facial data of affected customers was not compromised. On-chain investigator ZachXBT, who flagged the incident, suggested that the breach appeared limited in scope and concentrated on high-net-worth users, an assessment that Revolut and independent parties have not yet confirmed.
Revolut offers customers the ability to buy and sell over 90 cryptocurrencies. The stolen files reportedly include some clients’ complete Bitcoin transaction histories. Similar data leaks have previously fueled targeted scams against cryptocurrency holders. For instance, criminals have used leaked order data to send convincing phishing emails to Ledger owners, exploiting a fabricated Ledger-Trezor merger to lure them to a fake website that harvested their recovery phrases.
The Revolut demand represents another instance where customer data has been weaponized against crypto firms. This follows a similar incident involving Coinbase, where a ransom demand forced the exchange to disclose a breach affecting over 69,000 customers, exposed after overseas support agents were bribed to hand over their records.
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