Tesco Bank has confirmed that some of its customers’ current accounts have been subject to online criminal activity, in some cases resulting in money being withdrawn fraudulently.
Benny Higgins who is the chief executive issued a statement apologizing for the “worry and inconvenience that this has caused for customers”, and stressed that it is taking every step to protect customer accounts.
Due to the attack, they have implemented a precautionary measure to temporarily stop online transactions from current accounts.
This move will only affect current account customers. While online transactions will not be available, current account customers will still be able to use their cards for cash withdrawals, chip and pin payments, and all existing bill payments and direct debits will continue as normal.
“We can reassure customers that any financial loss as a result of this activity will be resolved fully by Tesco Bank, and we are working to refund accounts that have been subject to fraud as soon as possible.”
Up to 40,000 of Tesco’s seven million accounts may have been affected.
“This approach is not a strategy and if consumers are compromised they will blame the bank (and in this case, the supermarket that owns it),”
Loss of trust leads to customers to move to other banking and financial institutions that they believe can keep their sensitive and personal financial information secured.
Hacking and certain attacks are unpredictable. It can happen anytime. Companies and enterprises need to be vigilant and prepared since they can be hit or breached anytime.
Online transactions specially online banking is generally secure. Although it is pretty secure, they should have safeguards and improvements that they need to implement.
Some banks have deployed card-readers or one-time-password tokens which are then used to logon or pay using a new account.
Consumers should receive compensation, insurance and other coverage. As long as their money gets returned or refunded, consumers would feel that they are being taken care of. It is the bank’s loss. Yet still, banking fraud still is a huge market that hackers feed on and everyone should be careful and vigilant.
