bank account security

Tricked into divulging passwords

Published:

MANY will find it surprising that bank customers have apparently been tricked so easily into divulging sensitive password information about their accounts to bogus telephone callers.

However, it is easy to be lulled into a false sense of security in the current, highly competitive financial sector, where substantial amounts of money can be moved around by simply pressing a keyboard button or telephoning a bank call centre.

This is the same market where it is routine to be contacted by telephone by bank employees to check that you are happy with how the account is operating.

In this climate, it is perhaps little wonder that a number of people in and around Inverness have been tricked into giving away more than they should.

A worrying feature of this case is that it appears that the callers have already known the names and account numbers of some of those targeted, which indicates they might have been picked up during other, legitimate, transactions. Genuine bank employees, such as those in a call centre, would never ask for a complete password or code, merely selected digits. Therefore, the best advice is to say nothing and to alert the bank and police straight away.