Lloyds Banking Group is conducting an inquiry following reports from customers of Lloyds, Halifax, and Bank of Scotland who claimed they could access other users’ transactions through their app and online banking platforms.
According to a woman who spoke to the BBC, she was able to view the accounts of six different users on her Bank of Scotland app within a 20-minute timeframe. The transactions she allegedly witnessed included benefit payments from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) utilizing recipients’ National Insurance numbers as payment references.
Additionally, she reported seeing payments from a pub in Newcastle, located 154 miles away from her residence in Kirkcaldy, Fife, and transactions to Waitrose, despite the absence of a nearby Waitrose store.
Consumer advocate Martin Lewis mentioned receiving messages from individuals who claimed to have seen unauthorized transactions in their accounts. Several users confirmed seeing unfamiliar payments before the app reverted to displaying their own transactions.
The exact number of affected individuals remains unclear, given that Lloyds Banking Group serves approximately 26 million customers. The issue emerged around 7 am, coinciding with a surge in complaints on DownDetector, an outage tracking platform.
A spokesperson for Lloyds Banking Group expressed regret over the brief disruption in transaction visibility experienced by some customers and reassured that the problem was promptly rectified. The bank is actively investigating the incident to determine the root cause.
One customer shared with the Press Association her shock upon logging into her banking app and encountering unknown transactions. She described feeling as if she had glimpsed into someone else’s financial life, noting direct debits, cash withdrawals, and payments at unfamiliar locations, raising concerns about the security of her personal information.
The unsettling experience left her questioning the reliability of the banking app and the safety of her financial data. She emphasized the distress of witnessing such detailed financial information and the impact on her trust in the banking system.
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