The payday loan firm Wonga has said up to 270,000 of its customers may have been affected by a data breach.<\/p>\n
The firm said it was “urgently investigating illegal and unauthorised access to the personal data of some of its customers in the UK and Poland”.<\/p>\n
The firm said it began contacting borrowers on Saturday and was offering support through a dedicated phone line.<\/p>\n
The information stolen includes names, addresses, phone numbers, bank account numbers and sort codes.<\/p>\n
Around 245,000 of the customers affected are based in the UK with the rest in Poland.<\/p>\n
In a statement, the firm said: “We are working closely with authorities and we are in the process of informing affected customers. We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused.”<\/p>\n
Wonga said it did not believe the attackers had gained access to users’ loan accounts, but warned them to be vigilant.<\/p>\n
The lender, which gives short-term loans, said it had became aware of the breach last week but at that time thought no data was involved.<\/p>\n
However, by Friday it realised the attacks were more serious and started informing customers on Saturday by email and text.<\/p>\n
The range of information stolen also includes the last four digits of customers’ bank cards – information used by some banks to log in to online accounts.<\/p>\n
It is a further blow for Wonga which has been trying to rebuild its reputation after several scandals.<\/p>\n
In 2014, the financial regulator found it had made loans to customers who could not afford to repay them, and chased debts with letters from a fake law firm.<\/p>\n
In 2015, the firm saw its losses double<\/a> as tougher regulation in the industry continued to bite.<\/p>\n Its pre-tax losses grew to \u00a380.2m that year from \u00a338.1m in 2014.<\/p>\n Source bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"