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?

This isn’t true - I had Barclays call me to send me one of the account log in toggle things they have. The funny thing was, the guy on the phone had the exact voice of a scammy scammer - sounded like a financial scammer or maybe a dodgy real estate agent. Asked me so many identity questions that I hung up as I thought he was a scammer haha.

Barclays now have a brilliant system if you use online banking where they send a message to your phone and you pass security when you confirm it. No answering questions and I have confidence that the person calling is genuine.

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.

But why is that the customers fault? As I said above I can guarantee that if I gave any information to a scammer no matter how non private such as my name or address and as a result I was scammed there would be no sympathy for me from the organisation. I don't care how frustrating it is for the person making the call it's not my fault and your frustration is being directed to the wrong person.

I used to have to make calls like this regarding complaints (if we needed additional information). It was really frustrating because I'd say "it's regarding a complaint you recently made" and loads still didn't trust that we were genuine. We could give out parts of the information (e.g. We could give the month of birth and ask them to confirm date and year or similar). The worst part was that we were outsourced so our calls didn't show up on the bank's internal logging so if people rang the bank to check we were genuine they said no 🙄🙄. It usually ended up with us sending a letter instead

But a scammer can ask this.....and then follow on the conversation slowly getting you to reveal more and more info.

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.

That actually sounds even worse that they aren't doing it by default and are thus expecting (hoping) people to not be scam-aware. The very same people that don't challenge them are the exact ones who could use the guidance as to be a bit more security conscious.

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.

The problem is that scammers are very sophisticated nowadays, and you've no way of knowing what info they might have found out about you online or by intercepting your mail or whatever - and although one piece of info in itself might seem fairly innocuous, it could also be the final missing piece that they need to unlock the rest that they already have.

If you're going to insist on calling somebody out of the blue about their banking, the risk that you may be speaking to the wrong person (and any consequences of that) has to be on you; not on the person who never asked for or was expecting a call.

It's a shame that we can't live in a world where we can trust everybody else to be honest - although Timpson's profits would go right down if nobody needed front door keys anymore! - but sadly, we just don't. You'll notice that the banks and government agencies themselves will ask for (often repeated) security information when you contact them wanting something, and won't just take it on trust.

Yes, I have thought this too. I usually end up using the app chat instead to be sure.

YANBU OP, I used to work at a call centre for a major bank and I found it infuriating that the system was set up so stupidly that I had to ask someone to divulge personal info over the phone when I called them about anything. Stressful for me and the customer and leaving them open to ID theft and scams. I tried flagging it up to management and they didn't want to know. FFS it's a stupid way of doing things.

Certainly my Mother's maiden name was Iver-Hardy!

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.
It might be “non private” but it is still PERSONAL and identifying information, information my own back tells you not to pass on when called out of the blue by a complete random. And honestly if you can’t be professional and say “I understand, please call us on the number online / on your debit card” or whatever then, as a former customer services manager, working in customer service isn’t for you if you can’t not huff and puff and get passive aggressive down the phone, it’s not professional, rude and leaves a negative impression of the brand

Out of interest, have any of these calls ever been worth your time anyway ?

Personally any non-contact numbers (so nearly all) are diverted to voicemail with instructions to leave a message. 95% of callers don't and I don't think I'm missing out on much.

Tell them to write you a letter then disconnect. If it's really your bank, they will. Otherwise block and ignore.

I suggest if you don't like this you tell your bank to remove you from any and all marketing. Then they'll only contact you about fraud.

It's not marketing though
they called me because they wanted to check a payment made into my account
I still don't know why!

If they ring you they should only ask for partial answers for security I.e what is the 2nd and last letter of your mother's maiden name instead of asking for your mother's maiden name.

Never give out full answers unless you have rung them

Then they'll only contact you about fraud.

But that's what most of them will be calling about in the first place: preventing suspected/potential fraud - but they're going about it by getting in touch in the exact same way that fraudsters would do!

Shocking that some banks still do this as it is a common scam tactic. My banks send me an email saying I have a message in my secure inbox on their banking app.

It's a problem. I work for an insurance company in claims. 9/10 customers don't answer their phones. Those that do refuse to speak because they are convinced its a scam. And with inbound call centres, the wait is lengthy if they call back.

It's utterly stupid. If anyone calls me and can't prove who they are, there's no way I'm doing the same thing in reverse.

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

What utter bollocks. Knowing conclusively that <phone number> is associated with <name> who lives at <address> is exactly the sort of thing that scammers want to know so they can start digging for more personal information. We're not in the era of phone books where you can look this up any more.

I remember reading about the bloke who documented a massive battle with capital one over this. It was entertaining to read.

I agree, we're told not to trust random callers but then banks do what scammers do.

I never give them details, I just say 'you called me'. If they refuse to proceed, I put the phone down.

I absolutely agree.

I work in finance and I cannot disclose any information without DOB and postcode. I can't do anything with that information. It I cannot go into financial (and medical, sometimes) if I can't verify you.

Sometimes we set up a password with the customer and that can work. But they still have to pass data protection anyway but the password helps them know we aren't scammers.

Sometimes we call for very important reasons. We aren't psychic we can't see who's on the end of the line and if we went through your medical records (it had happened and someone lost their job) to a relative which you didn't want them to know about, we're the ones who get in shit for it.

Everyone moans about how it might be a scam but if I wanted to scam you. I already have your full name, she, address, bank details, medical records on my system. I really wouldn't worry about a bloody DOB and postcode. Unless you want your policy you've been paying for, for 15 years cancelled because you've accidentally missed a payment but won't fucking give me your DOB and Postcode to talk about it.

Everyone moans about how it might be a scam but if I wanted to scam you. I already have your full name, she, address, bank details, medical records on my system. I really wouldn't worry about a bloody DOB and postcode. Unless you want your policy you've been paying for, for 15 years cancelled because you've accidentally missed a payment but won't fucking give me your DOB and Postcode to talk about it.

YOU know all that, but they don't know that you are genuine - and not a scammer pretending to be genuine!!!

Full credit to the last guy who called me from Sky. When he asked my password so I could start in a new deal, I asked him to confirm who he was first. His reply was " At this point I'm supposed to tell you to call back yourself. But I can just say that I can see that you've been a customer since December 2010, you're paying £xxx per month via direct debit, the last movie you ordered was..' at which point I said fair enough and finished the transaction. It saved a lot of time and hassle, even if technically against the rules.

Its called data protection. Its there to protect you, the customer, so we do not disclose YOUR personal information.

If you are not happy to confirm your name and DOB/Postcode then there are other ways you can contact a company back. But after dealing with the general public for years being absolute rude fucking wankers about it, my tolerance now is LOW.

Not happy to go ahead? Thats fine, we will send a letter or you can call back. No need to be rude about it to the min wage person calling you because YOU didnt pay your sodding credit card,