Online brokerage Robinhood, which offers a suite of tools aimed at making investing easy and comparatively cheap for the uninitiated, said on Friday (Oct. 9) that hackers may have gained information about customers’ personal email accounts, Reuters reported.
The wire service said a Robinhood statement indicated that the company’s internal systems were not compromised and that they are “actively working with those impacted to secure their accounts.”
Bloomberg News on Friday reported that a number of Robinhood customers had their accounts taken over in recent weeks, and they were unable to reach anyone at the company as the intruders liquidated positions and stole the proceeds.
Bloomberg quoted several Robinhood account-holders who said they sought help from the brokerage, only to receive a response that stated: “We understand the sensitivity of your situation and will be escalating the matter to our fraud investigations team. Please be aware that this process may take a few weeks, and the team working on your case won’t be able to provide constant updates.”
At least one Robinhood user complained to federal securities regulators, Bloomberg reported, adding that the two agencies – the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) – declined to comment.
The recent data problem around customer emails is one of several technical woes that have occurred at Robinhood in recent years. At one point earlier this year, the brokerage went offline, sparking customer complaints and even lawsuits.
Reuters reported last month that Robinhood increased its latest funding round from investors to $660 million, putting its valuation at $11.7 billion.
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