Unsolicited calls from banks

Welcome to my world.

MBNA are the worst...........they phone me up offering me some "benefits" to my account and then ask me account security questions.

I, of course, refuse and tell them that they could be anyone and that I'm concerned about identity fraud etc.

The indignation from their end is almost audible........it makes me wonder how seriously banks take the whole fraud thing.

They take it seriously enough to protect themselves. After all, if a fraudster did manage to con your details out of you by pretending to be your bank, the bank would disclaim all responsibility as it would be entirely your own fault.

Mark

No it wouldn't. If banks and their staff are stupid enough to frequently call people and expect them to prove who they are by divulging security details, without the bank first proving who *they*, the caller, are, then the banks obviously expect their customers to give out their security details to an unverified caller.

If the banks expect this - then they can't whinge when it results in security details getting into the wrong hands.

That is very logical and fair. But, sadly, banks are neither.

If you want a giggle, try phoning any bank and, once you get through to a real person, start by saying you are recording the call.

That's because the bank staff who are calling are generally stupid sales/call centre droids who are only interested in following the mandated process they've been told to follow without actually using their brain to think about it.

I used to try to get them to attempt to prove who they are first - like asking them for a random few digits of my account number or the amount of the last interest payment - but their processes tell them they can't give out *any* information to prove who they are.

Occasionally you might get an intelligent one who actually understands why you aren't doing as you're told and giving them all your personal information, and might actually make some attempt to prove they are genuine (the tax credits people did - I was pleasantly surprised), but by doing this they are probably breaking their employer's rules and could get sacked and replaced by the usual half-wit who just follows orders without thinking.

But a court might be - if a customer's account was emptied and he argued the fraudster made the same attempt at proving his authenticity as banks do (ie none).

I used to do that all the time with certain companies like BT, who whenever I phoned them they seemed to either sign me up to something I didn't want, or bullshit me. Recording the call seemed to concentrate their minds and avoid the "while you're on the phone, would you be interested in...".

I had a similar one recently from my credit card company and, when I refused to disclose my security details before they had proved who *they* were, they asked me to call the 0800 number on the back of my card and ask for the Security Department.

It turned out that the call *was* genuine, and that someome had been attempting to make fraudulant transactions on my account. So, full marks to them for nipping that in the bud - but surely they should just have asked me to call Security in the first place, and should not have asked for my security details in the initial call?

I've asked them to tell me what the third and fifth numbers in account information are etc when I've been cold called.

When the govt pensions and tax dept rang (on a Saturday!!) I was pretty shocked and assumed it was a dodgy call. It wasn't but we did have a discussion and I was given a number to call to verify him. Of course this as an option relies on them not being clever enough to set up a fake call centre to subvert people further. We did have a stalemate for a while as I wouldn't verify who I was until he told me what it was about and he couldn't tell me what it was about until he'd verified who I was. :)

"mogga" wrote

So who broke the stalemate?!

I don't like these calls so I first ask what the call is regarding. If they are trying to sell me something I tell them I am not interested, however if they are concerned about specific transactions it is probably best you take the call.

What I then do is randomly offer a couple of incorrect answers to the security questions thereby proving to myself that the call is genuine.

you are 10% right. Bank call always disturbed us so that's why most o

the person first go on internet and fill form there. they got ther call by bank to meet at there home not for all details on phone. visi my site and you can see it

It is shocking that often even the security departments of bank don't understand that they need to prove their own identity first. Sales staff also want to make you answer security question to ensure that they are talking to the account holder, but if they really cared about the DPA, they would not call at all, since there might be good reasons why you might not want people living with you to know that you have an account or a credit card with a certain bank.

That doesn't necessarily prove that the call was genuine; if I was an Id. thief I would tell you that you have got some of the answers wrong in order to ask more questions.

Hang up and phone them back on a number that you know. That's what I always do.

There used to be a great deal of surprize expressed when I refused to answer their question but now they must be more used to this. It doesn't stop them trying though.

One of the banks that called me told me that I could not call them back because that department was not available through the published telephone line!

I really do not think that they should be trying though.

One of the problems with this is that when people start answering questions they lose track of the situation. They start by confirming their name and date of birth, then before they realise how much information they are giving away they will supply their mothers maiden name, secret word or place, I have known someone disclose their 4 digit PIN number (through a fake call to someone who had their card).

Though the banks will say that they will never ask for certain details, if someone has been duped into confirming a certain amount of personal information because the banks regularly ask for it, the chances are they are not going to be heads-up enough to know when to stop answering the questions.

I agree.

It makes no sense them tying to persuade us to keep our details secure with one hand whilst asking us to be lax with them on the other.

tim

But how would you know which questions I gave incorrect? If you just say I gave an answer incorrect to a question that was correct then you will have just made me aware that you are an id thief.

I may have done some research, things like postcode and address would be fairly easy to find out, or maybe my partner is sat next to me on the phone to the real bank and I'm just passing the answers straight to him or I could be typing it into the bank's webpage as you speak.

Yes, but I would have the correct information already so it would be too late.