I was reading the Technology supplement to the Guardian last week – an unusual reading choice for the likes of me perhaps, but I was drawn in by an article on identity fraud. You see, having recently been at the receiving end of my bank’s zealous but not entirely thorough fraud procedures I had special interest in a news item that claimed that banks didn’t take identity theft very seriously.
What happened to me is that I went to America on holiday, used my debit card to withdraw some cash a couple of times and then bang…card no longer active.
Which was very irritating, because New York has lots of shiny pretty shops in which I wanted to purchase many shiny pretty things.
On the face of it I was rather impressed because at least my bank was looking out for me…they just missed out one very important step: customer service…Why not just ring me up and check that it isn’t in fact me attempting to take money out, albeit in America (*shock* because no one ever goes abroad on holiday) not London, before placing a hold on my account? I guess they may not have wanted to phone me, on the off chance that I actually was in America and it cost them a lot of money as well as precious time out of their day.
Actually, the Student Loans Company did call me whilst I was traipsing round the Met. Which was great.
Were it not to have cost me as much as it would have cost them I would have kept them on for ages, oblivious as they were to my whereabouts. (You’ll know from a previous blog that I don’t like them very much.)
So – this article. Basically the author, Victor Keegan, having suffered countless scams on his bank account, saw fit to research just how easy it is for fraudsters to steal our identities. As we all know, when phoning the bank – even if it isn’t really the bank but a foreign call centre worker- we are often asked for our mother’s maiden name because this is regarded by all banks as a failsafe security question… which it really isn’t. Our mother’s maiden names along with other sensitive information is available from the register of births, marriages and deaths which can be found online.
Keegan states that “We certainly need a new approach as well-insured banks don't take identity theft very seriously, and criminals are getting sophisticated. I have come across several examples of victims being rung up shortly after an identity theft by their banks to offer help. Except it is not their bank but the thief that made the call, to find out whether the crime had been reported or to elicit more confidential information. If someone tells you your mother's maiden name then it is easy to be convinced that they are from your bank.”
Luckily I have never had the misfortune to come up against any of these con merchants but I know people who have..banks do seem to take pains to make us aware of identity theft but there are many areas in which security procedures need to be tightened up. Whilst it is sad that, owing to my bank’s blundering, I was unable to buy as many shoes as I might have liked, I still feel happy that were someone to have stolen my purse and tried to empty my bank account they would have been prevented from doing so.
















