Tesco Bank blocks online payments for current account customers after 20,000 had money stolen by fraudsters
Are you one of the Tesco Bank customers who've had money stolen from your account? Tell us your story: brittany.vonow@the-sun.co.uk
THOUSANDS of Tesco current accounts have been blocked from making online payments, as the bank tried to fix problems after a hacking attack.
The bank has taken the decision to temporarily lock-down online transactions for all of its 136,000 customers as a “precautionary measure”, its chief executive said.
Customers can still use their cards for cash withdrawals, chip and pin payments and direct debits will continue as normal.
Over 20,000 people had money stolen from their accounts over the weekend and a further 20,000 also has “suspicious activity”.
The bank would not confirm how much money had been stolen from its customers, however some of those affected have reported hundreds of pounds going missing overnight.
Yesterday, The Sun Online reported how dad Alan Baxter has £600 taken from his account. He said that Tesco had offered him £25 in compensation but that the money would not be returned for up to three days.
Tom Miller, 29, told The Sun Online that he received a text message on Thursday night informing him that he’d been a victim of fraud.
Benny Higgins, chief executive of Tesco Bank said: "Tesco Bank can confirm that, over the weekend, some of its customer current accounts have been subject to online criminal activity, in some cases resulting in money being withdrawn fraudulently.
“I’M WORRIED I WON’T BE ABLE TO FEED MY KIDS”
SINGLE mum Sam Allen from South Wales is worried she won't be able to feed her five children this week after Tesco froze her bank account.
The 44-year-old student teaching assistant from Newport whose children are aged between seven and 13, was forced to borrow money from a neighbour to get packed lunch items to feed them at school on Monday after her Tesco Bank card was declined at the supermarket's checkouts on Sunday.
Ms Allen claims she spent around six hours trying to get through to Tesco's helpline on Saturday evening after receiving a text message about fraud on her account.
She now has to wait up to 10 days for a new card.
She said: "It has caused a lot of inconvenience, especially as they told me through another text that chip and pin was working so I got a neighbour to take me to the supermarket.
"Then I was so angry when I got to the tills with my shopping for my card to be declined.
"I feel they've let me down completely. I have no access to my money. I can't pay bills or buy food.
"I'm quite lucky as I have food in the freezer for at home but after today I don't have the facility to feed my kids in school as their system pays money into the account by debit card which I can't do.
"I'm still concerned about food as I can't provide their school dinners for the rest of the week. I'm going to have to ask someone with a debit card if I can transfer money to them to pay it which I shouldn't have to do.
"Tesco keep apologising for the inconvenience but don't seem to be doing anything else."
"We apologise for the worry and inconvenience that this has caused for customers, and can only stress that we are taking every step to protect our customers' accounts.
"That is why, as a precautionary measure, we have taken the decision today to temporarily stop online transactions from current accounts."
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Customers who’ve had money stolen will be refunded “as soon as possible”, according to a spokesperson from Tesco Bank.
Ian Mann, CEO of ECSC, the cyber security service provider, said it was likely Tesco Bank's internal systems or their mobile app had been hacked.
He criticised the bank's security system, saying: "Their method of access for customers is weak for this type of system.
"Username is your email by default, and you only need digits from a numeric PIN.
"By requiring limited digits from the PIN on login, they make it virtually impossible to hash (encrypt) the PINS they have stored.
"This means a compromise of their customer database will reveal all logins and passwords to the attacker."
Tesco Bank, which opened in 1997 and has been wholly owned by Tesco PLC since 2008, has 7.8 million customer accounts.
Have you been affected by the Tesco Bank account hack? Tell us your story: [email protected]