The Financial Times reports that Tesco Bank, which is owned by the UK supermarket chain of the same name, has had to block the credit cards used by some of its customers because of reports that some had seen the equivalent of as much as $750 (US) removed from their accounts fraudulently.
“We have taken steps to protect a small proportion of customers’ current accounts from fraud following an alert yesterday,” Tesco Bank said in a prepared statement. “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.”
FT notes that Tesco Bank has more than seven million customers, but only will say that between 1,000 and 10,000 were affected. However, the BBC reports that 40,000 accounts were hacked, with money removed from about half of them.
“We have taken steps to protect a small proportion of customers’ current accounts from fraud following an alert yesterday,” Tesco Bank said in a prepared statement. “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.”
FT notes that Tesco Bank has more than seven million customers, but only will say that between 1,000 and 10,000 were affected. However, the BBC reports that 40,000 accounts were hacked, with money removed from about half of them.
- KC's View:
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I think that this just adds to a general feeling that we're all at risk, vulnerable to attacks of various kinds from various quarters. Tesco just has the problem that a tarnished bank brand could affect its retail brand, which can't really afford any tarnish.
