Allan Gould

BBC Friday, 31 August 2007
Watchdog in phone scam warning

The OFT has warned consumers to be wary of cold-callers. The Office of
Fair Trading is warning people not to give their bank details to cold
callers after a new scam, using the watchdog's name, came to light.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6972607.stm

Richard M Willis

Allan Gould wrote:
> BBC Friday, 31 August 2007
> Watchdog in phone scam warning
>
> The OFT has warned consumers to be wary of cold-callers. The Office of
> Fair Trading is warning people not to give their bank details to cold
> callers after a new scam, using the watchdog's name, came to light.

Well that'll put paid to the banks who call you and say "what's your
MMN and DOB?" without actually seeming to realise that it's THEM who
should be authenticating themselves to YOU.

Richard [in PE12]


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Soruk

On Fri, 31 Aug 2007 18:56:56 +0100, Richard M Willis <mythreeinitials@mydomain.co.uuk> wrote:
>Allan Gould wrote:
>> BBC Friday, 31 August 2007
>> Watchdog in phone scam warning
>>
>> The OFT has warned consumers to be wary of cold-callers. The Office of
>> Fair Trading is warning people not to give their bank details to cold
>> callers after a new scam, using the watchdog's name, came to light.
>
>Well that'll put paid to the banks who call you and say "what's your
>MMN and DOB?" without actually seeming to realise that it's THEM who
>should be authenticating themselves to YOU.

My credit card company did just this to me. So I just said, "I have no way
to know at this point that this call is genuine. So I'm going to ask for
something not found on any statement." What I asked for were a few random
digits selected from the bank account the direct debit comes from.

It took them by surprise - but they complied.

--
-- Michael "Soruk" McConnell Eridani Star System
MailStripper - http://www.MailStripper.eu/ - SMTP spam filter
Mail Me Anywhere - http://www.MailMeAnywhere.com/ - Mobile email
Second Number - http://secondnumber.matrixnetwork.co.uk/

MB

The message <46d84a80$0$16263$88260bb3@free.teranews.com>
from Richard M Willis <mythreeinitials@mydomain.co.uuk> contains these words:

> Allan Gould wrote:
> > BBC Friday, 31 August 2007
> > Watchdog in phone scam warning
> >
> > The OFT has warned consumers to be wary of cold-callers. The Office of
> > Fair Trading is warning people not to give their bank details to cold
> > callers after a new scam, using the watchdog's name, came to light.

> Well that'll put paid to the banks who call you and say "what's your
> MMN and DOB?" without actually seeming to realise that it's THEM who
> should be authenticating themselves to YOU.

> Richard [in PE12]


I complained to my bank after they did that. They would not tell me why
the were calling (it was fairly obvious they were trying to sell me
services). I told them that I was not giving out that type of
information to a stranger so they suggested that they would give half my
DoB and Postcode, I told them that it was hardly difficult to find
either of these so it did not prove anything.

MB

Graham.

"Richard M Willis" <mythreeinitials@mydomain.co.uuk> wrote in message
news:46d84a80$0$16263$88260bb3@free.teranews.com.. .
> Allan Gould wrote:
>> BBC Friday, 31 August 2007
>> Watchdog in phone scam warning
>>
>> The OFT has warned consumers to be wary of cold-callers. The Office of
>> Fair Trading is warning people not to give their bank details to cold
>> callers after a new scam, using the watchdog's name, came to light.
>
> Well that'll put paid to the banks who call you and say "what's your
> MMN and DOB?" without actually seeming to realise that it's THEM who
> should be authenticating themselves to YOU.
>

It would be like a *customer* pulling out a UV striplight and checking
the validity of the notes he was given in change.
I must try that to see the look on the cashiers face.
--
Graham.
%Profound_observation%

MB

The message <fba3gd$iu2$1@registered.motzarella.org>
from "Graham." <me@privacy.com> contains these words:


> "Richard M Willis" <mythreeinitials@mydomain.co.uuk> wrote in message
> news:46d84a80$0$16263$88260bb3@free.teranews.com.. .
> > Allan Gould wrote:
> >> BBC Friday, 31 August 2007
> >> Watchdog in phone scam warning
> >>
> >> The OFT has warned consumers to be wary of cold-callers. The Office of
> >> Fair Trading is warning people not to give their bank details to cold
> >> callers after a new scam, using the watchdog's name, came to light.
> >
> > Well that'll put paid to the banks who call you and say "what's your
> > MMN and DOB?" without actually seeming to realise that it's THEM who
> > should be authenticating themselves to YOU.
> >

> It would be like a *customer* pulling out a UV striplight and checking
> the validity of the notes he was given in change.
> I must try that to see the look on the cashiers face.


A friend rang bank / insurance company / something, he got the usual
message that they were recording the call. So he told them that he was
recording the call also, they did not like that - "you can't do that"!

MB

Anthony R. Gold

On Sat, 1 Sep 2007 01:03:05 +0100, MB <MB@invalid.invalid> wrote:

> A friend rang bank / insurance company / something, he got the usual
> message that they were recording the call. So he told them that he was
> recording the call also, they did not like that - "you can't do that"!

The usual message is "for ... reasons this call may be recorded" which is
clearly a full and sufficient permission to do just that.

Tony

Richard M Willis

Graham. wrote:

>
> It would be like a *customer* pulling out a UV striplight and checking
> the validity of the notes he was given in change.
> I must try that to see the look on the cashiers face.

No it wouldn't. You're missing the point. A customer using a UV light to
validate banknotes is a perfectly legitimate thing to do. I've done it
before now. Thank you for the reminder; I must start doing this again.

However, I was referring to the practice of banks calling one and saying
"I'll take you through security. What's your MMN ?" This is stupid
because the bank seems to be totally oblivious to the fact that the
persun calling has no idea that the call is genuine.

Oh. I see what you mean. I'll go back to sleep.

Richard [in PE12]

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Richard M Willis

MB wrote:

> A friend rang bank / insurance company / something, he got the usual
> message that they were recording the call. So he told them that he was
> recording the call also, they did not like that - "you can't do that"!

The "we are recording the call" message is usually phrased as "Calls to
this number MAY be recorded". I would interpret that "may" as "we are
giving you permission to record", not that permission is required, of
course.

Richard [in PE12]

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