Bank calling you and asking for security information

airflow

Just want to know what everybody thinks about this?

Your bank or any other company calls and starts to ask you a couple of security questions before they get to the point of their call. Do you just answer them or do you refuse on the basis that they have called you, so how can you be sure they are who they say they are?

Lots of companies have started doing this over the last few years, but I thought the point of these telephone security questions was to ensure that the person who had made the call is who they say they are.

So far I have always refused and offered to call them back, but I am often made to feel like I'm the only one who does this.

So what do you all think, is it safe to answer these questions if you do business with the company and they call you?

Thanks

lilac_lady

I think you're doing the right thing by offering to call them back. Why take the chance of fraud?

Chadsman

I have not had anyone phone me asking security questions for a while but when they did I refused to answer.

TimBear

When I was a victim of bank fraud recently, my bank were great in picking up on it straight away but they actually called me with an automated message saying basically that they were calling from the bank's fraud team and can I confirm a few security details using my keypad. Ummm, THEY called me!

I hung up and called the bank on the usual number to be sure.

I wouldn't ever give out personal details to someone who has called me. It's up to them to prove who they are, surely if they have called you??

brokeinyorkshire

In my job we DO call out to customers although they are usually expecting our call.

We DO have to run through security as we are the fraud department and unfortunately fraudsters are very clever nowadays.

However. if a customer is not comfortable with the questions they can call the number on the back of their card and ask for a transfer to the relevant department.

After all its better to be safe than sorry.

J

purple45

I never answer the phone any more but if I did I would tell them to write to me and I wouldn't feel embarrassed or stupid for doing so, its perfectly reasonable.

glasgowdan

As the reply above, I always expect official things such as bank account admin to be dealt with by post or by me calling/visiting them. I never 'confirm' who I am on the receiving end of a call. Especially those calls that ask if you are the house owner!

Gromitt

I got one of those calls. They rang and asked me to prove who I was. I stated to them that they rang me, and so they should prove themselves first, then I would answer their security questions. They agreed. I asked them for the last letter of my post code and the amount of pence in my last cash deposit (so £10.42 would be 42). They then proceeded to thank me for being cautious

MoneySaverLog

Never give security details on any outbound calls to yourself, always take their name and extension then call back and ask for them on a number you know belongs to the organisation.

It's simply not worth the risk.

MoneySavingUser

I am also worried about this

Sometimes they will call you with an automated message so you can't be sure of this

Sometimes they will ring you and caller id will show withheld/unavailable

Sometimes they will ring you and caller id will show something different to their official number

Also I suppose with smartphones having more advanced operating systems and the wide availability of apps (of which not all have been vetted) they could introduce a virus to fake the call id and make it seem genuine...

Chances are slim but it could happen!

stclair

You should always call them back on a number your familiar with.

If the call is related to sales make sure you contact your bank to ensure your removed from there marketing databases to
prevent you receiving the calls again in future.