Don't ask me to confirm who I am!

[Inthebathagain]

Is it just me who can't get their head around a bank/company ringing you up from an unknown number, telling you who they are and expecting you to confirm your mother's maiden name/dob etc?

How do I know you are who YOU say you are?!

Wherever I point this out to the person on the end of the phone, they always tell me to put the phone down and ring the company line I find on the internet...which often gets you caught up in a queue of at least 30mins.

Surely there must be some way of them giving a little information and you confirming the rest of the information? Or some other way that I as a consumer can be happy that I'm not being scammed?

AIBU?

Scam. Banks won't ( or shouldnt) call you out of the blue requesting this information and you've every right to refuse it

Wrong! HSBC do this and it drives me bonkers too OP. I've also said 'You called me, so how do I know who you are?' I put the phone down and call them back, even though it's annoying. You just can't be too careful theses days with so many scammers about.

Oh it's totally not a scam. HSBC and RBS do this all the fudging time to me and I always tell them I will ring them back. I don't understand how they can call me and yet I need to confirm who I am when it's them ringing me in the first place.

Vodafone also drove me bonkers with this recently. We had no internet and every time they called to update or I was passed to a different person I had to reconfirm who I was I felt like a robot repeatedly parroting the same information.

Last time my bank called me they asked for something like my last three transactions on my debit card (it was a while ago!). That seems sensible as something only I was likely to know but would be useless to a scammer.

My Bank do that and get quite narky with me when I refuse, the same with my phone provider etc.

Rbs did it to me years ago. And we're arsy when I refused.
This was just before all the scams started. I was invited to call them directly, I declined.

i typed a reply but MN ate it.

yes, it's annoying.

You're totally right. And presumably if people get used to this it makes them more vulnerable to scammers in future.

Amazingly I once had this trying to get into my workplace, a random man approached out of the darkness (night shift) outside the building and demanded to know my name and have hold of my ID card etc. When I asked who he was he brushed it off and when I said that for security reasons I don't give out my ID to unidentified men he complained about me to my supervisor!

Apparently he did eventually get a bollocking for it but it shows how common this mindset can be.

I refuse to tell them too. I also refuse to waste time calling them back unless they can give a hint of the problem, ie is it account frozen or want to know about our new insurance?

Virgin were an absolute bugger with this several years ago.

Annoying but to protect you in case they've misdialled your number, or somebody else answered your phone.

I hate it and refuse to give out any information unless I'm expecting the call.

On the other hand, I do call quality checking for a big organisation and mark staff down if they don't ask the ID questions properly!

One Saturday I had a call from someone claiming to be from the government who couldn't tell me why he was calling.
He told me who to look up to find a switchboard number and I rang him back. Turns out child support agency worked Saturdays.

I am probably the biggest PITA to anyone who rings me up expecting me to ID myself to them. I give them grief, explain how they can verify who they are and then sometimes we agree to end the call because we can't find a way forward that makes me happy.

Halifax definitely do this.

You're totally right. And presumably if people get used to this it makes them more vulnerable to scammers in future.

Absolutely this.

It's the mindset of: "We'll tell people it's vitally important to follow security procedures and they'll be liable for their losses if they don't. Then we'll break aforesaid procedures, because we know we're the good guys."

Yeah, no.

They would ask you for your name and address. That's not private information.

Mothers maiden name would be if you set this up as an ID identifier.

You would go fucking bananas if your bank accidentally dialled the wrong number or someone else picked your phone up and they started disclosing your private information.

They have absolutely no proof you are the customer just because you answered the phone.

I worked at HSBC call centre for years. They give you the option to call back in. You can always ask them to send you a letter or message to your banking app if you arent comfortable talking on the phone.

Black horse finance ask you a multiple choice question and you pick the right answer. So a for 2968, B for 1974 etc. They also send you a text replying YES if you are able to take the call. It's a much more sensible system. I wouldn't give information out.

I don’t know what the solution would be but the arsiness of the staff when you say “no I won’t give you random person all my personal information” is incredible. I often get emails / texts from my bank telling me how to stay safe, but they get pissy if I follow their own advice. Irritating as shit.

I have to agree. I've never once had anyone be polite about it when I've questioned them and asked what it's about or if I could call back. You automatically get a rude response and a general tone of FFS why is this customer being so difficult. Yet if I gave my details to a scammer we all know it would be a completely different tone of wow how gullible are you why didn't you question it.

I understand the absolute importance of being safe from scammers, but as someone who worked in a call centre for years, you have no idea how infuriating it is when people refuse to tell you non private basic information.

'You called me! You should know that!'

No Barbara, I dont have the gift of fucking vision down a telephone line.

It will be useful to a scammer. They could then phone your bank and use that to identify themselves as you. Social engineering is all about obtaining information, getting some small info, using that to get more until they've managed to commit fraud in your name.

It is annoying, and not necessarily a scam - my bank (HSBC so I deserve it for not moving) will ring up to advise me to move money into specific saving schemes. Sometimes I would, but I'm not going to jump through any hoops to do so. Not for the extra 5p in annual interest.

It's the mindset of: "We'll tell people it's vitally important to follow security procedures and they'll be liable for their losses if they don't. Then we'll break aforesaid procedures, because weknowwe'rethe good guys."

Nailed it. I bet these are the very same banks who wouldn't want to know if a customer was scammed out of their money by a scammer calling in the same manner.

As has been said, it's their sheer incredulity when you express any discomfort in complying - like you're the first person they've ever called who has had a basic sense of wariness and common sense. And yes, you'll never be able to get back to the same person/department if you call them back - at least not without a very lengthy wait.

There was a time when I kept getting calls from Sky asking the same intrusive ID questions. I got the impression that it very probably was Sky, but I still refused, and they were irate with how 'unreasonable' I was being. The most annoying thing was that I knew it was just their marketing 'calling to let me know about some great new offers' i.e. wanting to get more money out of us for sports, movies or other packages/services that we have no interest in whatsoever.

I'm sure the salespeople - like most salespeople - just saw me as an annoying barrier to them earning the commission that they felt they rightly deserved, with not a care that it was currently MY money and that I might not actually want whatever it is they've decided they'd like to sell me.

Simple rule: if you don't want people to suspect that you might be a scammer, don't behave in the exact same way that a scammer would behave.

If someone phones me claiming to be the bank/building society/anyone with confidential information about me I refuse to give them any personal information whatsoever.

I will confirm my name and that is all and call back on a number from a statement or their website if needs be.

I never answer my phone if my bank is calling, I always call them back. A few years ago I answered a call from my banks main customer services number, gave them the standard information they asked and it turns out it was scam. They accessed my bank account, drained it and took out a 10k loan in my name. They can clone your bank phone numbers. If your bank genuinely needs you they will have a note of it when you call them back. Waiting in a call queue for ages is far better than the alternative as I learned the hard way

Happened to me once. It was Vodafone. Not only did they fire off a load of questions at me (while I was also trying to catch my 5 month old DS from falling off the sofa) but the guy had the fucking nerve to tell me how to say my phone number!

(As in, I said 'XXX XXXX' and he asked if I could instead say 'XXXX XXX' in future. There would be no 'furure' I'm not with Vodafone any more.

Can you just ask them to send the information or inquiry by post?