Just had my Egg account accessed by a fraudster who managed to get Egg to give him a new password over the phone. Unless there was internal fraud he would have needed details such as mother's maiden name to get this done, and I'm still trying to find out how he did it.
Anybody else had any similar problems with Egg? It does surprise me that their computer systems are so frequently down, and I wonder whether they are having major security problems.
Peter
snipped-for-privacy@easy.com (Peter P) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com:
When problems like this arise, it's nice to know that your online bank offers a 'no-quibble' guarantee against fraud. Compare Egg's guarantee with that of the Halifax:
You may well do this already but if not you might want to consider giving financial institutions (and anyone else who asks for it) a different 'maiden name' (i.e. a made up one). I give out different mother's maiden names to all companies who ask for one. It is an extra thing for me to remember but since it is effectively a password I don't want to make it easier on anyone wishing to commit identity fraud on me.
The whole mother's maiden name as a security device is stupid in my opinion. Your mother's maiden name can be found out by someone who is determined and many friends of the family or family members will obviously know it anyway and may not be careful to keep it a secret. Furthermore some people can't trust all their family members anyway!
Launch a complaint with Egg.
You certainly have a right to a detailed explanation. Their systems should have logged the call. Giving a password over the phone sounds like a major breach, unless the caller gave all the other security details (which are easy to find - name, dob, postcode, mothers maiden name).
They've recently added the facility to remember details other than your mothers maiden name & password. Also the Money Manager, an account consolidation service. Do you make use of either of these ?
I'd look for problems on your own machine first -
Check for keyloggers - run Ad-Aware and Spybot, an decent up to date virus checker should check for these as well. Have you received one of the spoof emails asking for security details ? Do you run a firewall.
I don't think you can connect their machines being down with security breaches.
I've had no problems with Egg security.
Daytona
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