ING Bank issue major scam warning after major outage left customers unable to access their money

A major Australian bank has issued a scam warning to its customers affected by an hours-long service outage.

ING Australia customers first reported around 9 a.m. on Wednesday that they could not access the website or banking app.

According to website Down Detector, at its peak on Wednesday, more than 2,300 people reported problems accessing ING Australia’s banking services.

Customers first reported the outage around 9 a.m.; at 7:30 p.m. ING said “progress was being made.”

“Most customers should now be able to access the app and online banking as normal,” the update said.

‘If you cannot access the app or online banking, or are concerned about your account, please call us on 133 464.’

Early on Wednesday evening, ING posted another message warning of scammers trying to take advantage of customers.

“We are aware of scammers calling customers or posting on social media claiming they can help restore online and app access,” the post said.

At 7.30pm on Wednesday, ING said ‘progress was being made’ and most customers had regained access to their accounts

‘ING will never call you about online banking and any updates on this will be shared on our official ING Australia social media pages and on our website.’

In an earlier statement, ING said it was “aware that some customers are experiencing difficulties accessing the ING website and app.”

The bank said the issue had been “identified” and apologized to affected customers as its staff were “making progress in resolving the disruption.”

“This issue does not impact the ability to make payments using a card or mobile device,” a spokesperson said.

‘It also has no impact on automated scheduled payments.

‘We are very sorry for any inconvenience this may cause and will continue to provide updates as we make progress.’

Customers expressed their frustration about the outage on social media, which left them unable to access ING Australia’s website and app.

Customers have been warned by the bank to beware of scammers who could take advantage of the situation (photo a stock photo from the ING banking app)

‘I hope everything will be resolved soon. “I need to put fuel in (my) car so I can work this afternoon, but I can’t afford it until I can transfer money between my ING accounts,” said one user.

Another said: ‘I’ve just arrived at my holiday destination and discovered I can’t access my money. Again. Thank you ING’.

Other users expressed anger at what they said was a lack of communication by the bank, which first issued a statement hours after initial reports of the outage.

‘I don’t visit the app or website either. It has gone into ghost mode,” said one customer.

Another user said the ‘real thing to do would be to notify customers that your banking app appears to have stopped working’

“It seems like you need to approach this with the same urgency that your customers need to know what’s going on,” they said.

‘Any feedback regarding your app and website being down would be helpful… if you’re ready. All good, just gotta pay bills,” said another user.

‘It only took your company 4.5 hours to let us know. Cheers for the heads up. I don’t think I can expect much better from ING. I think it’s time to switch to a real bank.’

Another customer said on Facebook that there was a “systemic issue for users trying to access the app and website.”

“According to the phone recording, I need to respond to either to contact someone to report a problem,” they said.

‘Trying to call and the options for speaking to someone are incredibly vague.

‘Will definitely change banks.’

Outages were first reported to DownDetector around 9am, before dropping slightly and peaking again around midday.

Many users first complained about issues in the late morning, and some reported that the issues were resolved for them later.