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UK Bank TSB Admits 1,300 Accounts Hit By Fraud Amid IT Meltdown (bbc.com)
An anonymous reader shares a BBC report: Life savings have been stolen from TSB accounts by fraudsters "exploiting" the bank's IT problems, with 1,300 people losing money. On occasions, people were waiting on the phone for up to nine hours to report cases, the bank's boss Paul Pester has told MPs. He said that 70 times the normal level of fraud attacks were seen last month. The introduction of a new IT system in April left customers struggling to make transactions and see their balances. The bank said it would compensate customers in full for any fraud they suffered. The evidence came after the financial regulator confirmed that it was investigating TSB and criticised Mr Pester for an "optimistic view" of services after the meltdown.
I smell...
(wait for it)
RUSSIANS.
This was an unfortunate incident, but has largely been blown out of proportion by the media. The inconvenience I experienced was negligible.
I'm sticking with TSB because it's the only bank that's not shit. TSB has a number of positive attributes, the first of which is their business model. While most banks now user's customers' money in complex investments via their investment bank divisions, TSB is back to basics banking - it accepts deposits from customers and loans that money out to other customers. This makes TSB far less susceptible to collapse in the event of a financial crisis. Secondly, TSB actually gives you something for depositing your money. While most banks give you nothing, or even charge you for having an account, TSB offers benefits including 5% interest on balances up to £1500.
TSB was sold by Lloyds to the Spanish bank Sabadell after Lloyds racked up billions in debt in 2008 and had to be bailed out by the government. Sabadell converted TSB into a bank that offers a desirable service, and it was doing extremely well at attracting news customers, including myself. TSB had been renting their IT infrastructure off Lloyds, and these recent problems were caused by the move to a new infrastructure. It's unfortunate they messed that up, but I'm still sticking with TSB because it's nice to have a company that at least tries to offer a decent service.
And no, I don't work for TSB or have anything to do with them. I just like companies that try to offer the customer something. I also like Asda because it sells the same products as Tesco for a substantially lower price (why does anyone shop at Tesco?!).
Sing this really loud!
Up from the depths
20 stories high
breathes fire
but just in the sky
GODZILLA-AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!
(rounded obviously). Only 19 successful attempts per month is the average?
Is this the first major violation since GDPR came into effect? Will be very interesting to know what will happen..
The bank lost the money. The still owes the customers their funds. The customers only loose if the bank goes out of business.
There aren't fewer successful attacks of this kind, there are more of them as time passes, and the consequences of them are getting worse not better. There's obviously a fundamental problem with these critical systems and obviously nobody is doing anything about it. Do we need to go back to doing everything with paper until everyone gets their act together and fixes it?
"The bank said it would compensate customers in full for any fraud they suffered."
I believe my solicitors may have a slight difference of opinion of the number of significant digits of compensation...
Dog bites man. Contract law falls off turnip truck. Learned-helplessness porn, FTW. You know, could you grab a brain, please?
How about this, instead?
I'm sure there's a nasty time gap between pronto and ASAP, because numerical restitution needs to be performed with extreme competence and exactitude.
Of course, if TSB shit the bed all the way to insolvency, the collective "fix this—you dirt-licking mofo—pretty please, with sugar on top" shit-storm presages a nasty run.
The bank said it would compensate customers in full for any fraud they suffered.
THIS is the difference between banks in America and banks in most of the rest of the world.
In US, the bank would call this "Identity theft" and pass the loss to the customers. Why Americans tolerate that is a mystery to the rest of the world.
If anybody is keeping their 'life savings' in a bank they're doing it wrong. A bank is a place to keep working funds, not life savings. Anything you have in a bank is losing money to inflation. It's not working for you, it's working for the bank.