Wonga hacked

Hades · 9 Apr 2017 at 19:53

Wonga hacked. Heads up for anyone else that uses them.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-39544762

Edit: Not sure why I used the word 'else' there. i certainly don't use them.

Hodders · 9 Apr 2017 at 20:10

Firms need to do more. The paltry fines that get handed out are not a deterrent. £25 per customer affected, £50 for any financial details would be a start - oh and that goes to the person affected, not a watchdog.

245,000 * 50 = £12.6 million that might just make them sit up. Plus it will compensate those people for the time they will have to spend changing passwords/dealing with fraud.

I had me details pinched a couple of years ago and within 3 months had 3 fraudulent credit application blocked and one that went through. I only found out 12 months afterwards when the first 'payment' failed.

I asked if my credit record could have a 'no loans' flag put on it and you can't ! You can PAY to have a caution flag put on that lasts 12 months !

But I have no need for a loan and no desire for one, so the fact that I can't simply have a 'no loans/credit' flag on it is mad. I'm guessing that the financial services industry wants credit to be easy and would rather take the hit for fraud than make it secure and lose the 'spontaneous' credit applications.

norm · 9 Apr 2017 at 20:14

I doubt any customer of Wonga has anything worth stealing. Their credit history will be shot already.

G-MAN2004 · 9 Apr 2017 at 20:23

It's not like they'd be able to steal the account owner's money. They don't have any.

edscdk · 9 Apr 2017 at 20:24

The firm said it began contacting borrowers on Saturday and was offering support through a dedicated phone line.

This is where the problem starts, the wonga data is gold dust.. Not only do you have data of people stupid enough to need a billion % interest loan, but the company involved has made a statement saying it will phone its customers...

Roll on the phone calls from scammers offering to compensate customers and accidently transferring them £5400 rather than 400...

dowie · 9 Apr 2017 at 20:52

norm said:
I doubt any customer of Wonga has anything worth stealing. Their credit history will be shot already.

indeed - but the company itself is pretty scummy for preying on them so hopefully they get slapped with a big fine as a result

Hades · 9 Apr 2017 at 21:18

norm said:
I doubt any customer of Wonga has anything worth stealing. Their credit history will be shot already.

That's so true. If someone is using them then they probably don't have much to steal.

Maundie · 9 Apr 2017 at 21:23

edscdk said:
The firm said it began contacting borrowers on Saturday and was offering support through a dedicated phone line.

This is where the problem starts, the wonga data is gold dust.. Not only do you have data of people stupid enough to need a billion % interest loan, but the company involved has made a statement saying it will phone its customers...

Roll on the phone calls from scammers offering to compensate customers and accidently transferring them £5400 rather than 400...

This is a major issue, as you say the people are 'desperate' for the loans so when contacted by fake Wonga they'll probably give up bank details hoping the 'compensation' will be transferred but instead find that money has been taken out.

El Pew · 9 Apr 2017 at 21:29

Hodders said:
Firms need to do more. The paltry fines that get handed out are not a deterrent. £25 per customer affected, £50 for any financial details would be a start - oh and that goes to the person affected, not a watchdog.

GDPR regulations should go some way to alleviating this when it comes in in May 2018, as long as it's enforced. Fines of up to 20 million Euros or 4% of worldwide turnover.

Rannoch · 9 Apr 2017 at 22:25

Shame for the customers. But the blood sucking leeches should be closed down.

jsmoke · 9 Apr 2017 at 22:32

It's certainly garnering a lot of interest.

adolf hamster · 9 Apr 2017 at 22:34

so does this mean they can email even more people who aren't their customers debt chasing but now they can claim "oh we were hacked"?

Vonhelmet · 9 Apr 2017 at 22:43

Vargas said:
Shame for the customers. But the blood sucking leeches should be closed down.

Close them down and people will go to actual loan sharks. At least these ones are regulated and operate in plain sight.

jsmoke · 9 Apr 2017 at 22:50

Yep then you'l have a couple of goons round your door with baseball bats trying to get money back.

Rannoch · 9 Apr 2017 at 22:52

Vonhelmet said:
Close them down and people will go to actual loan sharks. At least these ones are regulated and operate in plain sight.

I agree, but there are loads of other regulated lenders who offer the same outrageous charges. Sad times.

Droolinggimp · 10 Apr 2017 at 00:47

jsmoke said:
It's certainly garnering a lot of interest.

Nice one

HungryHippos · 10 Apr 2017 at 01:25

According to the article wonga are losing money, I don't see how that I'd possible as they charge idiots high interest rates?

jsmoke · 10 Apr 2017 at 01:54

HungryHippos said:
According to the article wonga are losing money, I don't see how that I'd possible as they charge idiots high interest rates?

They write off a lot of unpaid loans though, can't remember the percentage something like 5% will never pay back and they just right if off after a year or so, obvioulsy had a bad year plus payday lenders were told to reduce their extortionate interest rates, some as high as 4000% I think.

Pixel · 10 Apr 2017 at 05:07

diamount · 10 Apr 2017 at 07:19

Hades said:
Wonga hacked. Heads up for anyone else that uses them.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-39544762

Edit: Not sure why I used the word 'else' there. i certainly don't use them.

Strange admission, who cares? Payday loans have their uses - better than a loan shark even though some here would say they are comparable.