Well, I had not intended to write a blog today (and it is a long one), but I must share my experience in hopes that you are alerted to the pervasiveness of today's fraudulent activity.
I recently received two emails from a major national bank. One said that I had changed my email address. The other said that I had added a payee to my online banking account. The problem is that I do not have an online account at this major national bank. While I share an account there with my mother, my mother does not use online banking... in fact, she does not use the computer!!!!
I called the number on the email and the phone representative could not help me because he could not verify my identity. I did not know the answers to the verification questions. Go figure! I mean, I don't even use the account!!! So, I went to this major national bank's branch - emails in hand - to find out what was going on!
The gentleman that assisted me (unfortunate for him) verified my identity and checked my mother's account which appeared to be intact and not compromised. He suggested that a customer probably made a mistake in keying in their email address. He went on to say that the "department" that handles this kind of situation would be contacted to remedy the situation. I told him that was fine, but I was not leaving until I was assured that MY IDENTITY had not been compromised.
He called the “department” that handles this kind of situation and gave them my email address. The "department" verified that my name was not on the account that was linked to my email address and told him that they would revert the email address. I said that was fine, but not good enough. I wanted to know who was using my email address, though I knew he could not give me a name.
He explained that he could not give out information regarding customers, but in an effort to assure me (I think), he said I did not have a personal profile with this major national bank and went on to say that this major national bank’s server is very secure. He made a point of the fact that the emails I received were sent from this major national bank's server. Though I appreciated his effort in assuring me, his comments still were NOT GOOD ENOUGH.
I explained that hackers have the ability to infiltrate governmental servers and this major national bank's server was not immune to being hacked. He stated that this major national bank's server could not be infiltrated. I said that though he was confident in this major national bank's internet server's security - I was not.
I reminded him of the fact that I received two emails from this major national bank’s server and I do not have online banking with this major national bank. And, I reiterated that I am on my mother's account and therefore this major national bank has my personal information.
I said he did not know the capabilities of hackers and I really needed some kind of confirmation that the situation was remedied. I even mentioned the absolute mess that my daughter experienced a couple of years ago when her identity was stolen. He said I should receive an email from this major national bank stating that my email address was removed from their customer's account. Really??? How will this major national bank contact me once they remove my email address? Hummmm...
I wonder if he knew that the Atlanta Journal and Constitution ran an article about an email breach on yesterday (4/4/11) and a front page alert today (4/5/11) about email addresses being exposed over the weekend - involving and identifying more than one major national banking institution. Yesterday's article can be viewed at http://www.ajc.com/business/targeted-nature-of-email-897268.html.
Now, I hope that this major national bank's server has not been compromised... but it is really troubling that the online payee "I" added to "MY" online bank account is one of the financial institutions mentioned in the AJC articles. Coincidental? I don't know, but what I do know is that I will personally go back to this major national bank to revisit this situation!
And, though I check my real online bank accounts daily, I will now check them twice a day! You should too!!! In addition, you should follow the guidelines mentioned in the AJC's articles to protect yourself from fraudulent emails! In fact, if you do not already have access to your credit reports, establish an account with freecreditreport.com and add the alert feature that notifies you of any activity from the three credit reporting agencies, TransUnion, Equifax and Experian!
I think the bank representative I met today may be overconfident regarding this major national bank's server security. Or, maybe he was trying to quelch my paranonia regarding identity theft. Or, maybe he is just not aware of the pervasiveness of hackers in 2011!
BE AWARE!!!
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