Credit Card Security

[bitingmidge]

Last week I received my new replacement (green) credit card, all shiny and ready to go for another few years.

It came by mail, with a covering letter addressed to me, and a red sticker over the face of it, which advised that it would only be activated after I phoned a particular phone number and told them it was me.

So I phoned, and got a machine that asked me to key in my credit card number then my pin number.

I don't have a pin number.

So I punched in numbers at random, and it put me in touch with a nice human being.

He asked me for my card number, which I read off my card. For security purposes you understand, he asked me for the exact billing address.

That had me going for a bit, till I remembered to read it from the top of the covering letter.

Then he asked me to remove the red sticker and read the four digit security number to him. Gee I don't think a bad guy would have been able to do that!

Finally he asked for my date of birth. Not being too endowed with the greatest of memory, I logged into this forum and grabbed it from my user profile. :eek: :eek: :eek:

OF COURSE! Birth dates are the universal secret thing that no one knows about anyone, so why do we plug them into the WWW so anyone can see them?

Mine's gone now, call that paranoia if you wish, but the above was all it took to get my credit card activated over the phone.... read the contents of a letter back, and look up my birthdate on the WWW!

Is security non existant, or am I just seeing shadows that aren't there?

Cheers,

P :confused:

[Gra]

Change your bank........

I got a call the other week, someone had tried to put 2K worth of sports equipment on it (That should have rung bells). They called me and cancelled the card on the spot. I had to pick up the new card from the branch and they had to ID me the same way as if I was withdrawing cash.

Sounds like your bank has decided that was too much work for their customers and fast tracked the process. It isnt uncommon, when processes get fast tracked that security is the first thing to go.. Sometime the older way is better

[doug the slug]

yes i can relate, i have received calls from my bank from people offering to see if there wasa any way they could help me save money on the wqaymy account was structured. now remember here that THEY have rung ME.

next thing they ask me (and their call line identification always comes up "private" so how the hell do i know that they are legit) to prove who I am by giving them my full name, address and date of birth. well i tell them that since they have called me, they know its me and i wont answer any more questions till they tell ME what my full name DOB and address are, so they can authenticate its them. they never will pass on that info but even if i did i wouldnt accept it as this info is openly available

[Stuart]

Good point Doug - will have to remember that one.

Midge - security? What security? Other banks do it better, but they all make one mistake - they employ monkeys (sorry Zed - the other sort of monkey ) who are too stupid, and who really don't care. I've talked my way around quite a few of them at one stage or another.

[Toolin Around]

Did anyone read the sunshine coast daily the other day? Where the guy said he had a few thousand dollars ripped off from him cause someone was able to harvest his banking information on the Internet. The bank only stopped it when the account became over drawn and never thought to inform him that he'd been ripped off. When he was talking to the bank about it they said this sort of internet heist happens all the time. He still doesn't know if the bank will reimburse him. I keep saying don't use the internet to do your banking...

Speaking of banks... A slight hijack coming. Who do you go to when a bank is trying to screw you. I'm being ripped off monthly by ANZ and they have agreed that I'm being screwed but they don't seem to be taking it any further. They just keep saying they're looking into it. Is there any group, organization, gov agent... that I can go to and they will fight this for me.

[doug the slug]

Who do you go to when a bank is trying to screw you.

the banking industry ombudsman

[bitingmidge]

Who do you go to when a bank is trying to screw you. I'm being ripped off monthly by ANZ and they have agreed that I'm being screwed but they don't seem to be taking it any further, they just keep saying they're looking into it. Is there any group, organisation, gov agent... that I can go to and they will fight this for me.

The banking ombudsman.

Good luck. I have a couple of interesting tales myself of late from the same bank/branch! :eek:

Best bet is to take your dough out and buy shares in the bank. Whenever people complain about banks I have shares in, I just smile and tell them how glad I am that my employees are looking after my interests!

Cheers.

P

[Gra]

Take your complaint up the line until you get someone who can kick the correct !@#$.

[RETIRED]

We bank with a Credit Union and the Manager rings us personally if there is any strange activity on our account.

I use internet to pay everything and never had any problems.

[Cliff Rogers]

So Peter Paranoia, does your card have the name 'bitingmidge' on it?

Now that you have erased your DOB from this site, how are you ever going to find it next time you need to actvate a card? :confused:

Maybe look it up on the drivers licence right next to the credit card in your wallet?

[bitingmidge]

So Peter Paranoia, does your card have the name 'bitingmidge' on it?

No, but I reckon I could find out who I am in about two minutes of Google Sluethery!

Where I live would take a few more minutes, where I collect my mail not long at all (it's on my home page after all), perhaps my bank details and credit card would be a bit harder to crack... I hope!

There again, I'm not really that paranoid, I was just trying to get everyone to take off their birth date, so there wouldn't be any more Happy Birthday threads and Gumby won't have anything left to whinge about (except Zed)!

Cheers,

P

[Jack E]

Last week I received my new replacement (green) credit card, all shiny and ready to go for another few years.

I thought they only came in gold

Cheers, Jack

[bitingmidge]

I thought they only came in gold

Cheers, Jack

Actually they offered me a PLATINUM one but I'll leave that for the Wally's who think they're a step up from gold. You have to be INVITED to pay the extra bucks to own one, but they invite you every month you stick more than ten gorillas on it.... then there's a special secret colour they offer to Rock Stars too which is good for when one feels like buying a small country (apparently).

So tell me chaps what is it about the Gold cards that makes them worth paying the extra moulah for??

P
:confused: :confused:

[Jack E]

I don't pay any extra moulah for either the ANZ gold or the AMA Amex gold.

No difference really, and no, people don't look at you in awe when you hand it over in a restaurant They probably think, look at this poor fellow, he can't afford to pay cash for his dinner

Reasons for having them;
The ANZ gold for me is cheaper than the normal card, I pay no fees and it links to frequent flyers for free. I would not use rewards as a reason for using a credit card but as I use the card anyway I may as well get something out of it. I have only had the card for a year and have enough points to fly overseas in September 07 to see the Wallabies play 3 games in France and one in Wales.

We use the Amex as it has a better reward points set up than ANZ.
ANZ gold gives me 1 point per dollar up to $2.5k per month, after which it is 0.5 point per dollar.
Amex gives me 2 point per dollar up to $5k per month, after which it is 1 point per dollar.

I always try the Amex first but it is not accepted in alot of places, hence the ANZ as a back up.

I use the credit cards in preferance of cash but there is always enough money in the account to be swept on the payment date so I never pay any interest.
Therefore the two cards cost me virtually nothing to use, and I don't pay any EFTPOS fees.

Cheers, Jack

[Rocker]

Peter,

Is green the new platinum?

Perhaps the bank should have asked you for the number of the account to which the card is linked. That info would be hard for a card thief to obtain unless he had burgled your house and found your bank statements. I insist that my bank communicates with me through my PO box, rather than my street address.

I have been using internet banking for six years without any problem. My bank has recently introduced an on-screen keyboard to foil keystroke-harvesting trojans. As I understand it, banks will cover any losses resulting from internet fraud, unless the customer contributed to the fraud by giving out his password.

Rocker