MSE News: Santander sends thousands of statements to wrong addresses

welshmike_2

If through Santander's error you are identified by a potential burglar as a comfortable off person or even a person likely to have a PC at your home you will have become a target for burglary and so there is another serious concern.
A. Do you do manage the following accounts online: bank, savings, investments, credit cards, etc?
Should your PC or its hard drive(s) be stolen there is a risk that passwords for the above accounts are exposed or can easily be obtained by a knowledgeable person or even cracked.
As many people know, Internet browsers such as Internet Explorer, FireFox, Chrome, maybe Safari, etc. allow you to save your passwords so that you do not have to enter them again.
Of course anyone who does A. above and whose PC is stolen is exposed to online theft.
So:
1. Do not permit your browsers to save you passwords.
2. Encrypt any sensitive files. Truecrypt is free software that runs on Windows, Mac or Linux and can be used for this, see http://www.truecrypt.org/downloads
3. If your PC BIOS supports it, do use a hard drive password. This makes it difficult for anyone to gain access to the contents of your PC's hard drive.

I spoke to a Santander employee at my local bank on Friday. They told me that there is no way of telling Santander to stop sending out paper account statements. (I could not find out how to do that online and I have not received my December statement)

The bottom line is that Santander has seriously fouled up and anyone who has been defrauded as a result should not be prepared to be fobbed off by £10 or £20.

Further reading:
http://citywire.co.uk/money/compensation-confusion-over-santander-s-statement-fiasco/a460223

BORN2BFREE

I haven't received my statement, Nor have i received a letter ???

Wasteofspace

I think some of you are exaggerating slightly, you seem to be under the impression that everyone who isn't you is a criminal and out to get you.

In reality a few pages of your statement may have been sent to one person in error. This person is most likely a nice genuine person like yourself who lives 300km away and is a little confused and worried about their own account details.

Plus Santander know the customers effected, fraudsters aren't thick.

Dave_ja_vu

........"I think some of you are exaggerating slightly, you seem to be under the impression that everyone who isn't you is a criminal and out to get you.

My friend you must live in a very fluffy perfect world, I live in a nice area, just outside Manchester. I have had a 'turn down' letter for a loan from Santander with my address and some foreign couples name, and a sim card arrive, after a bin diving incident, I was in town one day getting some cash out of the till in a que and a guy was trying to look over my shoulder for the pin number, the machine had been tampered with and a young scrote ran up and snatched something from the machine when I cancelled and walked away. My last three cars have been broken in to, we have had the house broken into while we were on holiday, and another attempted break in through the garage when we were in, my son has had is wallet and mobile mugged off him in a town centre, my wife a nurse has been attacked walking to work.

If you think it will not happen to you it probably will if you are not no your guard every day.

In reality a few pages of your statement may have been sent to one person in error. One or 35,000 people

This person is most likely a nice genuine person like yourself (some maybe but definitely not all)who lives 300km away and is a little confused and worried about their own account details.

Plus Santander know the customers effected, fraudsters aren't thick. No they don't, you have to contact them and push for compensation, they don't ring you. and you are correct most fraudsters are very clever and you will not know you have been stung until after the event. Promise me you will read the news a bit more wake up.

Wasteofspace

Dave_ja_vu wrote: »

My friend you must live in a very fluffy perfect world, I live in a nice area ... my son has had is wallet and mobile mugged off him in a town centre, my wife a nurse has been attacked walking to work.

Move to a better area.

Dave_ja_vu wrote: »

One or 35,000 people

No, just one.

Dave_ja_vu wrote: »

Plus Santander know the customers effected, fraudsters aren't thick. No they don't, you have to contact them and push for compensation, they don't ring you.

Yes they do, and if you're effected by this there was a letter on the way to you before you were even aware of the issue.

Dave_ja_vu wrote: »

Promise me you will read the news a bit more wake up.

All you've done is respond to my post with inaccurate exaggeration. Exactly how is this helpful?

Displaced_Yorkie

Santander might be able to hide behind their printer for the original !!!!-up but they only have themselves to blame for their 'letter of apology'. The letter I received today apologises for my having received details of someone else's transactions. It makes no mention whatsoever of the fact that someone else has received details of my account and my transaction! It apolgises for any distress caused to me by having received this other individual's details, yet any distress I might feel at having had my details sent to someone else doesn't rate a mention! Also, it's clear from the transactions listed that, although I don't know her, the person for whom I now have details lives in my home town. Is this just one hell of a coincidence, or have my details gone to someone local; someone that could well know me? Personally, I'm more outraged by this letter of apology than I am by the original mistake. Incidentally, the £100 compensation is reputedly on its way to my account.

Richyrich2001

I have also had the letter saying that I have got someone else's information but no mention that someone else has got mine. The other person's statement shows several withdrawls from an ATM in the same town as me so it looks like most of the crossed over statements will probably be for people living in the same post code area as each other. I looked up the persons name on the back of my statement on the BT website for the same town that I live in and I now have their address and phone number as well. All I need now is a copy of their birth certificate which will also give me the usual security question of mother's maiden name. The statement shows that they have about £2000 in their account and it is also quite clear from what they have been spending that they are a regular visitor to Spain. (Useful information if I wanted to rob the house).

Richyrich2001

I haven't phoned them yet but the 0845 number that they suggest you phone them on is chargable on some land lines and premium rate on a mobile so you could try 0800 7317774 or 01908 680130. According to "say no to 0870" these numbers should get through to Santander complaints dept.

amazonwom4n

Just to let you know also that I am not a member of Santander yet I received a Credit/Debit card from them which was not in my name and then 3 days later they also sent me the PIN number to go with it. Luckily I am an honest person and told them of their mistake.......shoddy though hey?:eek:

Wasteofspace

They did screw up a few months back and issued new cards to a number of customer who previously had A&L credit cards. This included to canceled cards and deceased customers.

You would't have been able to use this anyway as the card would need to be activated.

Did you open this mail which was not addressed to you?