Payday loan firm Wonga has been attacked by hackers who stole the banking details of up to 270,000 customers.
The firm said it was “urgently investigating illegal and unauthorised access to the personal data of some of its customers in the UK and Poland”.
It started contacting borrowers over the weekend and has set up a dedicated phone line for those worried about the data breach.
The information is believed to include names, addresses, phone numbers, bank account numbers and sort codes.
It is understood it also includes the last four digits of customers’ bank cards - a detail used by some banks to log in to online accounts.
Around 245,000 of the customers affected are in the UK, with the rest in Poland.
In a statement, the firm said: “We are working closely with authorities and we are in the process of informing affected customers. We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused.”
The lender, which gives short-term loans, first knew of the cyber attack last week.
But it only realised how serious it was on Friday.
Wonga, which offers a three-month loan priced at 1,286% APR alongside its short-term 1,509% APR deal, began informing customers on Saturday.
It sent an email and text message saying: “We believe there may have been illegal and unauthorised access to some of your personal data on your Wonga.com account.”
The hack attack is a blow for the controversial firm, which has been trying to rebuild its reputation.
In 2014, the financial regulator found it had made loans to customers who could not afford to repay them, and chased debts with letters from a fake law firm.
The following year the firm saw its pre-tax losses double, to £80.2m from £38.1m in 2014.
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