Standard Bank has refuted claims that it is experiencing a systems breach following numerous complaints of missing funds in accounts.
Clients Lose Money Mysteriously
There have been grumblings on X, as several clients have reported fraudulent transactions and missing funds from their accounts. People flooded the bank’s handle this morning, complaining that their accounts had been affected. Some said they are failing to block their cards and accounts as the bank’s call centre is making them wait for long.
Three-times Comrades marathon winner Gerda Steyn tweeted this morning:
“Trying to report fraud @StandardBankZA, but nobody picking up the phone… been on hold for over an hour already!!”
Another customer commented:
“Same. I have been holding for 3 hours. Money went off my account, but I can’t get hold of Standard Bank.”
They were not the only Standard Bank customers to experience the strange disappearance of funds from their accounts:
“Same happened to me as well… transactions of over 20k has gone through my account without any OTP approval from my phone. @StandardBankZA, shame on you for allowing this to happen to so many clients.”
Standard Bank Says There Was No Security Breach On Its Systems
The bank told the media:
“Standard Bank can confirm that there has been no breach of its system. Standard Bank would, however, like to apologise to customers for delayed responses when calling the call centre. This is due to a spike in month-end transactions. The bank has multiple security and authentication layers that it has made available to its customers.”
This is not the first time Standard Bank has experienced system malfunctions. In 2022, the group’s chief engineering officer, Alpheus Mangale, resigned because he was responsible for the stability of the bank’s IT systems.