World · East Asia & Pacific · 1 hr ago
Telstra fixes MessageBank fault that sent false missed-call alerts
A fault in Telstra’s MessageBank service sent false alerts to thousands of customers across Australia.
The delayed missed-call and voicemail notifications arrived in batches, even when the people named had not called.
Some customers received alerts from deceased relatives, including one woman whose father died in 2018.
Telstra said its systems were not hacked and that the problem did not affect emergency calls, voice calls or mobile data.
The fault caused confusion and distress, with customers questioning which alerts were genuine.
Telstra says the malfunction has been fixed and it is investigating what caused it.
The incident follows a nationwide Telstra outage in July that disrupted calls, mobile data and electronic payments for millions of customers.
A nationwide Telstra MessageBank fault sent delayed missed-call and voicemail alerts to thousands of customers.
Some customers received alerts for calls that had not been made, including alerts appearing to come from deceased relatives.
Telstra said the fault was not caused by a cyber attack and that its systems had not been hacked.
The company said the issue had been fixed and that it was investigating the cause.
Telstra said Triple Zero calls, voice calls and mobile data were not affected.
- Who
- Telstra customers across Australia received the alerts.
- What
- A MessageBank fault sent delayed missed-call and voicemail notifications, including alerts for calls that had not been made.
- When
- The issue occurred earlier on Wednesday; Telstra said it had been fixed by Wednesday night.
- Where
- Nationwide across Australia.
- Why
- Telstra attributed the alerts to a technical fault with its MessageBank service. The cause was under investigation.
Telstra
Concerned customers
Cause of alerts
Telstra
Telstra said a technical fault in MessageBank caused the alerts and that its systems were not hacked.
Concerned customers
Some customers feared the alerts signalled a security breach or hack.
Impact
Telstra
Telstra said there was no impact to Triple Zero calls, voice calls or mobile data.
Concerned customers
Customers reported confusion and distress, including receiving alerts linked to deceased relatives or people nearby.
A MessageBank fault caused delayed missed-call and voicemail notifications to be sent to customers.
Telstra said the fault had been fixed and that it had launched an investigation into the cause.
- Affected customers
- Thousands of Telstra customers
- Service involved
- MessageBank voicemail service
- Status
- Fault fixed by Wednesday night
- Emergency calls
- No impact to Triple Zero calls
- Other services
- No impact to voice calls or mobile data
What people are saying
They could bring up some really tragic things from past experiences that people shouldn't have to relive, and Telstra need to be accountable for that.
This is due to an issue with our MessageBank service earlier today, which has now been fixed. We’re sorry for how confusing this must be.
There is no impact to Triple Zero calls, voice calls or mobile data.