Thousands of Tesco Bank customers have been targeted by fraudsters
Panicked account holders have revealed they have lost hundreds of pounds
TESCO Bank customers have woken to find their accounts drained of hundreds of pounds as the bank scrambles to investigate suspected fraud.
People have had their accounts blocked as the bank rushes to contain the scam, with frustrated customers left on hold for hours as they demand for answers.
Dad Alan Baxter said he woke up on Sunday morning - with his account down £600 and no notification from his bank.
He told The Sun Online: "I always check my bank account first thing in the morning and I noticed it was £600 down.
"I went to call Tescos and got the standard message that they were busy and that they will get to my call, but there was no message about what had happened.
"An hour and 16 minutes in they got on the phone... and the lad at Tesco's confirmed there had been suspicion of fraud.
"All he could do was to take my details and pass it onto the fraud teams and promise to discuss it in 48 hours."
He said Tescos had offered him £25 in compensation - but the money would still not hit his now blocked account for two to three days.
The 39-year-old said: "I'm left trying to think of what I can sell or do - I've still got to buy food for the week and fill up the car."
Some Tesco customers have even complained all their money has disappeared from their accounts.
Single mum Sam Allen said she had received a text last night, spending hours trying to get through.
She said: "I had a text and an email last night about 9.45pm I spent hours on the phone trying to get through didn't get to bed until 4am when I finally gave up.
"Luckily my account seems untouched although strangely the balance has gone up by £2.";
While her account has not lost money, it is now blocked, causing huge issues for the concerned mother.
She said: "My problem is my kids all have school dinners through parentpay which you add money online with your debit card I also do my weekly shop online on a Sunday to be delivered on a Monday which is my only day off from work. I am unable to pay for food for them for school tomorrow I'm a single parent so no partner to help out with a debit card."
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But Tom Miller told The Sun Online he had received a text message as early as Thursday alerting him to potential fraudulent activity.
The 29-year-old said: "They're customer service has just caused massive issues, no one can get ahold of them."
He said he immediately called the bank on Thursday night, spending three hours on the phone, before trying to contact them again on Sunday morning - spending three and a half hours on the phone before the call cut out.
He said: "It's just been a mess.
"They should have brought in all their staff to help customers."
The frustrated customer said he was already looking at joining a new bank.
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Customers have slammed the bank, which is owned by supermarket Tesco, with many complaining they have been unable to reach customer service to have the problem resolved.
Another wrote: "we have been hacked, all money gone, no email or text!! Appalling response from Tesco so far".
In a statement online, the bank said: "Yesterday our fraud prevention systems identified suspicious activity on a number of accounts.
"As a precautionary measure we have blocked some customer cards and have contacted affected customers via text message to notify them."
The bank added: "We have taken steps to protect a small proportion of customers’ current accounts from fraud following an alert yesterday.
"All our customers can continue to access their account as normal through online banking and can make chip and pin transactions. For those impacted, we are working to re-establish a full banking service and we apologise for any inconvenience."
They were unable to confirm how many customers were affected or how much money was lost.
A spokesperson told The Sun Online: "Our priority at the moment is ensuring that we’re doing everything we can to help customers who have been affected by this issue and prevent any further fraud.
"The bank will be fully refunding affected customers within 24 business hours of any fraud taking place on their account."
Customers have taken to social media, with some claiming their available balance has gone down by hundreds of pounds.
WHAT TESCO TOLD THEIR CUSTOMERS
Yesterday our fraud prevention systems identified suspicious activity on a number of customer accounts including your own. The suspicious transactions relating to these accounts were immediately blocked to protect our customers. We are dealing with this as a matter of urgency but in the meantime the majority of customers can continue to use their cards using chip and pin functionality. Online servicing, telephony banking and the mobile app will continue to work as normal. If you have lost out due to fraud we will refund this transaction. We would recommend reviewing your payments and letting us know of any suspicious activity otherwise there is no need to call us at this stage.
Customers have reported having to stay on the phone for three hours as they try to get answers.
It is unclear what has caused the incident, with customers receiving text messages warning them of suspicious activity.
Tesco Bank has more than seven million customer accounts.
Their officers, across Edinburgh, Glasgow and Newcastle, employ about 4000 staff members.
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