The phishers are getting cannier

[Vorpal]

Upthread, Third Crank asked about the situation when your band fraud dept calls to say there has been a suspect transaction on your card.
How do you verify the caller is genuine?
They ask us for security words etc, but never seem keen to give the customer a chance to check them out.
I've never been caught out by this, but I'm very uncomfortable giving information in these circumstances.

I've never been asked to give out anything, and in fact, when my bank has called me, they did not say or use anything that could be problematic.

The first time, they just called me & said that there had been some suspect transactions on my account, and they had put a stop on my card. They asked me to check my transactions online and call
them back. The most recent time, they sent me an SMS, asking me to call them. I was going to lunch, so I waited. When I tried to pay with my card, it didn't work!

[Redvee]

Had an email from Barclays which is nice to know they are looking after my money and account, only problem is I don't bank with Barclays.

Some transactions on your debit Card requires authorisation,

Please click secure Estatement to review transactions.


We apologise for the inconvenience this may have caused however this is a security feature designed to protect your details and should only take a few minutes to complete.


Your Barclays online Team

[kwackers]

Amusingly over xmas I discovered my credit card had some suspect transactions on it. The credit card company had obviously spotted the same since they'd stuck them in a pending folder and tried to contact me.

Speaking to them, they went through and asked me which I didn't recognise and which I did.

They cancelled my card, sent a new one and moved the transactions through to the fraud team.

I then get an SMS off them saying they'd sorted it all out and refunded nearly £900 to my account - which I thought was odd because so far nothing had been taken out.
Looking through the returned transactions they'd refunded a large number of transactions that simply weren't fraudulent including one for over £600! They'd refunded some Amazon transactions but not others (how can they tell between them?)

As to how my card had been compromised it was almost certainly an online purchase since that's the only time I use it.
That's one good thing about Paypal, you can only authorise it by logging in at your computer. Credit cards often require no authorisation at all.

[reohn2]

I always try to use PayPal as a second line of "defence" if I can when buying online

[djnotts]

BTW what benefit is PayPal? You can pay direct from bank account, credit or debit card so why use PayPal? It's a middle man you're paying for right?

I've sometimes wondered about this. I use PayPal quite a lot - it puts an extra 'barrier' between my bank account and an as-yet-untried vendor - hence another layer of protection just in case the vendor turns out to be rogue, at least they haven't got my card details.

If PayPal themselves get hacked and my card details leak out - well an event of that magnitude would probably hit the news headlines, so hopefully I'd get warning in time. As would millions of others!

I use Paypal all the time, why? Mainly because it's so much easier than filling out card details ......

I use paypal whenever it's an available paymernt option. I reackon it's an extra firewall compared with an "unknown" retailer. Its business depends on security image and they have more incentive to get it right than a third party.

[mercalia]

Amusingly over xmas I discovered my credit card had some suspect transactions on it. The credit card company had obviously spotted the same since they'd stuck them in a pending folder and tried to contact me.

Speaking to them, they went through and asked me which I didn't recognise and which I did.

They cancelled my card, sent a new one and moved the transactions through to the fraud team.

I then get an SMS off them saying they'd sorted it all out and refunded nearly £900 to my account - which I thought was odd because so far nothing had been taken out.
Looking through the returned transactions they'd refunded a large number of transactions that simply weren't fraudulent including one for over £600! They'd refunded some Amazon transactions but not others (how can they tell between them?)

As to how my card had been compromised it was almost certainly an online purchase since that's the only time I use it.
That's one good thing about Paypal, you can only authorise it by logging in at your computer. Credit cards often require no authorisation at all.

one reason to use Paypal rather than keep on giving your credit card details to site after site - One well known cycle shop where I bought some cycling shoes from was badly put together in that who ever had done it had forgot to make the login page https so any one spying on you could have logged in and done some mishieve - they gave me a plaltry 10% off for informing them. Th eonly thing about paypal as you shouldnt use it for purchases above £100 I am told as you lose your credit card protection rights should some thing go wrong.

" Credit cards often require no authorisation at all." well Visa cards should use Verified By Visa but I have noticed in my case it seems to being passed through these days for some sites

[JohnW]

...........Paypal have a business built on trust...............

Kwackers my dear chap - PayPal are in 'financial services' - and you TRUST them?

[kwackers]

Kwackers my dear chap - PayPal are in 'financial services' - and you TRUST them?

As an internet based service Paypal is more vulnerable to poor publicity than my bank, so in that respect I trust them to make more effort not to generate it.

Further as I mentioned above Paypal transactions have to be individually authorised whereas my credit card doesn't.
Neither have ever cost me money (directly) that I'm aware of through fraud, but evidently the credit card is the easiest of the two since it rarely bothers asking me for confirmation.

[Flinders]

On the general subject, I would not pay any significant sum by bank transfer to anyone without a tiny £1 tester (then ringing the recipient to check it had got to the right account) first.
Especially to Barclays accounts. They seem to crop up far more than their share of the market would explain when it comes to hosting dodgy accounts. I'm not sure I would make any BACS payments to a Barclays account.

[mercalia]

seems there are some very senile oaps out there with more money tthan sense?

Police say more than 3,000 people, most of them elderly, have been duped into withdrawing large sums of cash and handing it to someone posing as a courier or police officer.

In October, a couple from Dorset lost almost £1m, including their pensions and all their savings.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51371433

I hope I never get that bad.

atleast not as bad as this

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-51383435

[peetee]

I thought I was being targeted about a month ago when I received an email from a company that claimed they were taking over as my energy supplier. I was suspicious because I had not heard from my actual supplier that things were going to change. By chance I heard on the radio the next day that they had folded and the company I had heard from was indeed the one that absorbed their customers. What surprised me was that it had taken them 5 weeks to inform me!

[661-Pete]

A recent series of scams, for us, have been several phone calls telling us "your Amazon Prime account will be terminated unless you....." (I always hang up before hearing what comes next ). Neither Mrs P nor I have an Amazon Prime account. But somewhere out there, there may be someone, with such an account, who might be taken in....

[djnotts]

I favour Paypal simply because it is an extra wall and, more importantly, it was designed from the outset as an on-line "banking" system while the big banks internet ops have growed like topsy. All the worst systems I saw in my work life were those that just kept adding extras without any fundamental changes to the foundations. To continue the construction analogy, they become wobbly! Its reputation rests on on-line performance, banks' don't.

[JohnW]

A recent series of scams, for us, have been several phone calls telling us "your Amazon Prime account will be terminated unless you....." (I always hang up before hearing what comes next ). Neither Mrs P nor I have an Amazon Prime account. But somewhere out there, there may be someone, with such an account, who might be taken in....

We've had the same calls - daily - different number shows up all the time.
Neither of us have an Amazon prime a/c either.
I always hang up - but often I guess what it is and let it ring.
Yes Pete, I know what you're saying.

[Cunobelin]

My latest is from 3...

Every month I get a text stating that there has been a problem with mu payment and unless I respond immediately My service will be suspended.

Shame it arrives about a week after 3 have confirmed the payment on my statement