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Bank Fraud

Sure there are dishonest men in local government. But there are dishonest men in national government too.” - Richard Nixon

"There is a quality even meaner than outright ugliness or disorder, and this meaner quality is the dishonest mask of pretended order, achieved by ignoring or suppressing the real order that is struggling to exist and to be served." - Jane Jacobs

Me, I'm dishonest, and you can always trust a dishonest man to be dishonest. Honestly, it's the honest ones you have to watch out for...'” - Johnny Depp

First of all, I'm feeling much, much better this morning. The only residual sign is that I'm still very unbalanced when I'm walking around, and so the cane may have to be the answer after all. I think it was Becky who said it'd look distinguished anyway, so I guess it's ok to at least give it a try. I'll have something to beat off the rioting masses as they roll all over each other from laughing so hard! Just a little self-deprecating humour there, folks. No need to jump on my self-respect < grin! >.



Anyway, on to the meat of this entry. I have frequently gotten the standard on-line letters on what appears to be bank letterhead asking for account numbers, pins, or whatever because they're doing security checks. I've also received probably more than my share of those ballistically stupid letters from people trying to smuggle millions out of Africa before the government takes it, and they'll give me a couple million if I'll send a thousand or so to get the process started. Those, I usually forward to a special unit of the RCMP that is tracking them.

But yesterday, I got one that disturbs me in a way. Here's the text of it:

Dear Mr/Mrs (my full and accurate first and last name were substituted here)

We are committed to protecting you, with the latest technology to keep your details secure,
and dedicated teams to monitor online activity and intercept any suspicious actions.
And we do everything we can to protect our online customers, but the steps we take
can be much more effective if you work with us to protect yourself.

31 August 2006 [the date on which I received this e-mail] our security system detected an unsuccessfull [ note: the spelling error here is their's, not mine...which begins to undermine the whole reality show just a tad!] access attempt to your online account
from Ip address 82.190.253.29 that does not correspond to your current address.

xxxxxxxxxx Ave
Edmonton
xxx xxx

[That's the part that freaks me out. They had my full and accurate street address and correct postal code, so it truly does look authentic, you'd think, eh?]

Please click here [a hyperlink which you can be sure I did NOT click!!] to confirm your current address or change it online.

If you do not confirm your address until 02 September 2006 your account will be SUSPENDED for security reasons
and we will send you an Activation Code by post which you will need to renew your online banking service access.
You will receive this within seven days if your current address is not confirmed.

Yours sincerely
Adrian Grace
Security Department
Barclays International Insurance Services Company Limited


Now this is all well and good, and isn't it nice that they're looking out for my security. It's kinda like when I've had VISA phone several times after I've made large purchases or multiple purchases all within a short time. They want to verify that it was me using the card, and that the card wasn't stolen. I think that's a cool thing they do, and am quite impressed.

I'd be equally impressed by the service checking suggested by this note except:

1) I have NEVER done any kind of online banking (mostly for this very reason)
2) I have never in my life dealt with Barclay's Bank, Barclay's Insurance, Barclay's Undertaking or any other business in whatever conglomerate they've cobbled together. I couldn't even tell you if they operate in Canada.

How and where would they get my full name and street address? I have been very careful to use neither whenever filling out online forms, etc. It'll be interesting to see if I get this "activation code" and their suggestion what to do with it. I know what my suggestion will be!.



Since I'm on the topic of spam. I actually don't get very much of it EXCEPT....

about 3-5 times a day I get the write up for a "hot tip" in the stock markets. Every one comes from a non-existent address, and every address is different. Does anyway know a way, short of changing my e-mail address, to get rid of these annoyances (they remind me of the mosquito bites we had to put up with in the summers in the bush).

Whew! I guess I was in a ranting mood when I woke up!! Much better now!

Happy sunshine, everyone!

PEACE.



I haven't had that problem here, but I am getting PayPal security hitting my mailbox about my account,(I do not have a PayPal account). Don't understand why, especially since I reported the first one as SPAM. Never opened any of them. My G-mail is usually pretty good about kicking anything out that I have set as spam.

Oh shit! Looks like some fraud spammer screwed up with the banking info. Okay, but I agree, it is scary that they've got your address AND email if you don't give the 2 out. If you got the url, I'd report them. You can do it & I've done it before & with 1 of the times, the people who owned the ip actually put a stop to it. The other people were assholes.
The cane...yeah, especially if you are bald & wear sunglasses. Then you're not just a man with a cane, but you're a HOT man looking damn fine.
Glad you're feeling a lil better.

The criminals are getting very good at what they do, and I got one recently claiming to be from my bank that I actually bank at... I find the best way to deal with it is to delete the email, and call my bank or go in personally. I even got one from walmart.com, saying my order had been shipped and my amount charged was over $1800! It had a ups tracking number and I ended up calling customer service to find out what the deal was. Its all just scammers trying to get info. If your name and addy is in the phone book, thats how they start. It really sucks that so many out there are into identity theft.
Be safe, and good to hear your up and runnin - or walkin! :)

Yeah, I have been getting a ton of these the past month or so. You just know someone will be uninformed enuf to follow thru with all of this.

I hate spam... seriously, nothing irritates me more than that. The funny thing is that I have an email that I've not given out to any websites and I"m getting spam there. Here's what I did learn about that... I have some family who have websites with guestbooks. They have a place to optionally add your email addy and this is where they find you, the spammers that is. They have these "bots" that crawl the internet looking for those email links and adding them to their spam list. So I have learned not to add my email and if I do, I use "at" instead of @ to discourage it.

I also received a scam email complete with my real name and address. It was sent to an email address I had only used for ONE purpose. The purchase of a stock trading service paid for via ibill. I strongly believe that my personal details (but not my credit card number, fortunately) were leaked by ibill - or more likely, one individual insider at ibill with access to the information. Ibill are notorious for also handling the accounts of porn sites, and early on, I also received spam of the most disgusting kind including graphic images that regular spam does not carry. It's scary that there's someone out there who has my name and address, and thinks that I like that stuff. Ouch.

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  • I'm Evydense
  • From Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
  • And I'm tired of living in the shadow of narrow-mindedness and ignorance. So here's the fax, Jack! "The Bible contains six admonishments to homosexuals and three hundred and sixty-two admonishments to heterosexuals. That doesn't mean that God doesn't love heterosexuals. It's just that they need more supervision." - Lynne Lavner*** I'm confused; curious; satisfied; realistically resigned to being a frustrated idealist; usually at peace with myself, but not always. Amazed at how little I know, and wondering how much I need to understand.
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