Suspicious transactions spotted on around 40,000 accounts have seen online payments frozen. So what next?
Current account customers at Tesco Bank have had online payments frozen after tens of thousands of accounts were attacked by fraudsters.
How many people were affected?
The bank said suspicious transactions had been spotted on around 40,000 accounts, and that money was taken from around 20,000 customers. Many account holders reported losing hundreds of pounds, with one customer telling the Guardian that more than £2,400 had been taken. Tesco Bank will not say how much money is involved in total.
So what happened?
The bank says it fell victim to online criminal activity. Tesco spotted suspicious activity on accounts on Saturday evening and texted customers who had been affected. Several people have reported that their accounts show transactions made overseas, such as in Spain and Brazil. A criminal investigation has been launched.
How was its security breached?
Tesco has not given any details, but technology specialists have speculated on what might have happened. Cliff Moyce, global head of financial services at technology firm DataArt, said the chance of the problem being cause by a “remote technical hack” was less than 50%. “Far more likely is the (in)action of a human actor, or weak process/management controls when information is shared between providers,” he said.
