A major Australian bank has issued a scam warning to its customers who have been affected by a service outage lasting several hours.
ING Australia customers first reported being unable to access the website or banking app around 9am on Wednesday.
At its peak, more than 2,300 people reported problems accessing ING Australia banking services on Wednesday, according to the Down Detector website.
Customers first reported the outage around 9 a.m.; At 7:30 p.m., ING said that “progress was being made.”
“Most customers should now be able to access the app and online banking as normal,” the update said.
“If you can’t access the app or online banking, or have any concerns about your account, please call us on 133 464.”
Early Wednesday evening, ING posted another message warning of scammers trying to take advantage of customers.
“We are aware that scammers are calling customers or posting on social media claiming they can help restore online and app access,” the post said.
Some ING users are unable to log into their accounts at around 9am on Wednesday (pictured in the message they received)
At 7.30pm on Wednesday, ING said “progress was being made” and most customers were able to access their account again.
“ING will never call you about online banking services and all updates on these topics are shared on our official ING Australia social media pages and website.”
In an earlier statement, ING said it was “aware that some customers are experiencing problems accessing the ING website and app.”
The bank said the issue had been “identified” and apologized to affected customers while its staff “made progress in resolving the outage.”
“This issue does not impact the ability to make card or mobile payments,” a spokesperson said.
‘It also does not affect automated scheduled payments.
“We are very sorry for the inconvenience this is causing and will continue to provide updates as we move forward.”
Customers took to social media to express their frustration at the outage that prevented them from accessing the ING Australia website and app.
The bank has warned customers to beware of scammers who may take advantage of the situation (pictured is a stock photo from the ING banking app)
“I hope everything is resolved quickly. I need to put gas in (my) car so I can work this afternoon, but I can’t pay for it until I can transfer funds between my ING accounts,” said one user.
Another said: ‘I’ve just arrived at my holiday destination and discovered I don’t have access to my money. Again. Thank you ING.
Other users expressed anger at what they said was a lack of communication from the bank, which first issued a statement hours after the first reports of the outage.
‘I also can’t access the app or the website. “He’s gone into ghost mode,” said one customer.
Another user said that “it would be best to inform customers about the fact that their banking app appears to have stopped working.”
“It seems like you should approach this with the same urgency that your clients have to know what’s going on,” they said.
‘Any feedback on your app and website going down would be helpful…when you’re ready. Everything is fine, I just have bills to pay,’ said another user.
‘Your company only took 4.5 hours to inform us. Greetings for the notice. I guess I can’t expect much better from ING… I guess 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.”
“The phone recording tells me to go to any of them to contact someone and report a problem,” they said.
‘Trying to call and the options available to try to talk to someone are incredibly vague.
“I will definitely change banks.”
Outages were first reported to DownDetector around 9am, before decreasing slightly and increasing again around midday.
Many users first complained of problems late in the morning and some reported that the problems had been resolved later.