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Tesco bank was hit with an online hack which led to 20,000 people banking with it to lose money online. To counter the hack and figure out what happened, the company announced a suspension on all online transactions.
A total of 40,000 accounts from the 136,000 current Tesco account holders were targeted, and half of those that were targeted lost their money. The chief executive of Tesco bank, Benny Higgins noted that the bank had noticed a rise in fraudulent use against its customers during the night of November 5th.
Speaking to reporters, he said that the bank was entirely focused on making sure that the level of disruption for the people would be at a bare minimum. Therefore, as a result, the bank had informed their customers overnight of the suspension on all online activities as a way to curb the fraudulent activity and for the bank to be able to bring things back under control.
People who use the bank can still use it for cash withdrawals, direct debits, and various offline payments. People will also be able to check their accounts online but any transfer activity or payment will not be possible. Tesco Bank has not yet revealed any details about the hack and they said that they were working with the National Crime Agency to figure out what had happened.
Higgins noted that commenting and saying what had happened during the investigation would be inappropriate. The NCA confirmed that they were investigating the nature of the attack but they said they could not comment further on it.
Customers who use the bank were left appalled after they noticed that their money had been taken from their accounts with one user commenting on Twitter that Tesco was not responding quickly enough for her liking. Higgins said that customers were not in any financial risk at the moment. He also said that the 20,000 customers who had lost their money would be paid back in full and was confident that they would be paid back in less than 24 hours.
@tescobankhelp we have been hacked, all money gone, no email or text!! Appalling response from Tesco so far #nobodyanswering
— Kirsty Brown (@kirstyktweet) November 6, 2016
Tesco also confirmed that they were now working with the Financial Conduct Authority which says that all banks should repay customers if their money is taken from their accounts in an unauthorized manner. The FCA says in its memorandum that if a customer notices a payment or transaction that they have not authorized on their bank statement, then they should report it to their bank immediately.
Higgins confirmed that the amount the bank was to pay back to their customers was a big number but not necessarily huge.
A statement on the bank’s website noted that during the weekend some of the bank’s customers current accounts had been compromised which had led in money being withdrawn from their accounts fraudulently.
