There are those who rushed to call the bank’s call center and those who preferred to make fun of social media. What is certain is that the story of the current account holders of Ing Italia, who by mistake yesterday found themselves with hundreds of billions of euros debited from their account, will remain in the memory for a long time.
The disruption has thrown thousands of customers into chaos. Many were alerted to the sudden red maxi on the account by the banking service text messages. Others were unable to log into their repository pages. And there are those who have failed to pay the expiring fine or the urgent payment.
There have been many reports on social media even throughout the day today. Many screenshots of the maxi debts – even from 270 billion euros – published on Twitter by the numerous unfortunates. The bank already tried yesterday to reply to customers through its Twitter channel: «We apologize for the technical error! We are working to resolve as soon as possible, thank you! ».
Then today a further explanation on the social network: «Hello, due to a technical error, the charge for the SMS alert service you displayed had some zero too many and consequently the balance was negative. We apologize for the inconvenience. The anomaly was resolved by our technicians in a few hours and everything was back in place! ».
Many immediately thought of a possible hacker attack. The bank however firmly denied. Meanwhile, consumer associations are stepping up. «The episode demonstrates once again the fragility of the IT systems and platforms used by banks and companies of various kinds and highlights the potential risks both for security and for privacy – says Carlo Rienzi, president of Codacons -. Unfortunately, episodes of this kind are multiplying more and more and this shows that there is not enough security on the net ». The consumer association makes itself available to all bank customers involved in this disservice for any claims for damages due to stratospheric charges that suddenly appeared on current accounts. This is the case, for example, of any inconvenience due to the blocking of operations.
Altroconsumo is also at the side of customers for any appeals to the banking Arbitrator. In any case, in the event of damage suffered, compensation can be requested directly from the bank (by registered mail). However, it is necessary to prove that you have suffered a loss.