A glitch on the Bank of Scotland app allowed hundreds of customers to see other users’ transactions

A glitch with the Bank of Scotland app has enabled hundreds of customers to view other users’ transactions on their accounts.

Customers flagged the error on Thursday morning (March 12) to the Lloyds Banking Group – which runs Bank of Scotland, Lloyds and Halifax. The bank confirmed the matter had been investigated and rectified within a matter of hours.

Lauren Johnstone, from Strathaven in South Lanarkshire, said she was left furious when she woke to discover a Liverpool-based account displayed on her mobile. Her partner sounded the alarm after receiving a notification of a £1,000 transaction appearing on his device.

Upon quickly accessing the Bank of Scotland app, Lauren was able to view DVLA car payments showing registration plate numbers, salary details, and child benefit payments that were not hers or her partner’s.

Lauren, 36, told the Daily Record: “My partner and I are getting married and we have a joint account so when he saw a transaction being sent out for £1,000, he immediately asked what I was spending a grand on. I wasn’t spending any money, so I jumped on my phone to find someone else’s account displaying on my app.

“You could see all of their payments including their salaries, car registration number for a direct debit to DVLA and even child benefit payments. On my partner’s phone, he was getting a new account shown every time he opened the app.

“I complained to Bank of Scotland and all they told me at the time was that they’re looking into it. The account being shown on my phone was Liverpool-based. I have no doubt if I could see someone else’s account, people could see mine. This is a massive and outrageous data breach that should never have happened.”

Several customers turned to social media to post screenshots of unfamiliar transactions appearing on their mobile app that did not belong to them.

Donald MacLeod, from the Highlands, said his wife had been affected. He wrote: “My wife woke up this morning to someone else’s account and transactions in her Bank of Scotland app. Seen someone with Lloyds account having the same issue. Seems to be widespread problem.”

Debz Lawson said: “Anyone else’s Bank of Scotland app randomly give someone else’s transaction history when they logged on this morning?”

Financial expert Martin Lewis said he had also received a flood of messages regarding the error. Writing on X, he appealed to his followers: “Do you use the Lloyds, Bank of Scotland or Halifax apps? People have been messsaging me this morning of being shown other peoples transactions.

“I want to see how widespread this is. Has it happened to you. If so a) What are you seeing? Which app. b) If it is someone else’s transactions, does it give any of their details too (name, account number etc)?”

Halifax customers also reported experiencing the same issue. Gavin Harrison stated: “Logged onto Halifax this morning and whilst my balance was correct all I could see were transactions I didn’t recognise, I assume from someone else’s account. Unfortunately I didn’t check anymore details before logging out and in again, then my correct transactions were shown.

“I could though see where all the transactions were made and the amounts for each of them, despite it being my overall balance that was displayed.”

A spokesperson for Lloyds Banking Group commented: “We’re sorry that some customers experienced an issue viewing transactions in the app for a short time this morning. The issue was quickly resolved and we’re looking into what happened.”