Bank cashiers snooping in accounts

krlyr

First of all, apologies if this is the wrong section as it's not necessarily about saving money, but relates to banks (and I saw other security-based threads on here)
Just wondered if anyone in-the-know could let me know if it's possible for bank cashiers to access customer's accounts without the customer present/aware/having given permission to the cashier?
I have had suspicious that someone, let's call them Person X, has taken this as a perk of their job and satisfied their boredom/curiousity by snooping through bank accounts, as they have mentioned things in conversations that suggest this. They have also discussed customer's financial circumstances to non-staff which I would say is a huge breach of confidentiality, though not really possible to prove as it would just be my word against theirs.
Anyway, after recent comments I am wondering if X has snooped through my account, as I bank at the bank they work at. I wanted to move accounts when I suspected this, but having been in the process of getting a mortgage, I didn't want to risk affecting that by switching my bank account, setting up a new one, having wages paid elsewhere, etc. I thought maybe I was being a bit paranoid. However, a comment today has me thinking that this person has snooped as they said something that alluded to the amount of money I have in my bank account - not information I would have shared in conversation.
Anyway, I am now seriously considering reporting this person - their relationship to someone in my family has prevented me from rocking the boat but as I am unable to currently move my account, I feel I have to do something so that X doesn't continue to have free reign over looking at my account.
So just wanted to check that a) this is possible. Can't see why not as this person has accessed my account in the past to set up an ISA and transfer money without my going to the branch (I previously trusted this person due to the relationship with a family member) and had no account number/banking cards to do this, so I assume they can just search me by name and access my account this way.
And b) if they can, how likely is it to be able to prove? Would most banks have a log that shows who's done what in who's account? Would it be searchable without dates of when I think this person has snooped? If it can be proved, what action is likely to be taken?
The bank in question is Barclays, incase anyone is familiar with their particular system.

seafarers_wife

i used to work in a bank (not customer facing) a few years ago. where i worked it was possible to access accounts using postcode and then scrolling down till you got the right account.

there would be an audit trail regardless of what bank to show what user id accessed the account, when they accessed it and what transactions they performed if any.

i have no idea what action would be taken if it were proven to be true but i would imagine it would be classed as gross misconduct at the very least.

hippey

When I worked for Barclays a similar thing happened when a member of staff was picking through accounts of certain people which they had no authority to do. An internal audit was done and showed every transaction and part of the account they had viewed.

This member of staff was dismissed.

opinions4u

krlyr wrote: »

Just wondered if anyone in-the-know could let me know if it's possible for bank cashiers to access customer's accounts without the customer present/aware/having given permission to the cashier?

It's possible.

I have had suspicious that someone, let's call them Person X, has taken this as a perk of their job and satisfied their boredom/curiousity by snooping through bank accounts, as they have mentioned things in conversations that suggest this. They have also discussed customer's financial circumstances to non-staff which I would say is a huge breach of confidentiality, though not really possible to prove as it would just be my word against theirs.

If reported to the bank, with specific detail, there will be an audit trail that will show who has access and individual's account details. Assuming there was no authority or business reason to do so, the staff member concerned would almost certainly be sacked.

Anyway, after recent comments I am wondering if X has snooped through my account, as I bank at the bank they work at. I wanted to move accounts when I suspected this, but having been in the process of getting a mortgage, I didn't want to risk affecting that by switching my bank account, setting up a new one, having wages paid elsewhere, etc. I thought maybe I was being a bit paranoid. However, a comment today has me thinking that this person has snooped as they said something that alluded to the amount of money I have in my bank account - not information I would have shared in conversation.
Anyway, I am now seriously considering reporting this person - their relationship to someone in my family has prevented me from rocking the boat but as I am unable to currently move my account, I feel I have to do something so that X doesn't continue to have free reign over looking at my account.

I think you should report it. Alternatively, if you don't want the outcome of this person losing their job, show them this thread and tell them not to be so stupid in future.

pqrdef

Aren't they always looking for sales opportunities?

Whenever a decent sum of money is heading to my Lloyds account, I get a phone call the day before it arrives, just to check that I know it's coming, and make sure that I'm not going to leave it sitting there, when they could sell me an investment and take a 5% commission out of it.

Obviously the computers are snooping through my affairs and flagging them up to the staff.

SailorSam

It's not just banks, doctors spring to mind where the people working there have access to private details, maybe people in the call centres for the utility and phone companies, or the local Council. It's something that we have to accept and hope most keep information to themselves.
If they don't sooner or later they'll be found out and disciplined.

mumps

I think the bank would take this very seriously. Some time ago my DD lost her debit card, we asked my DDIL if she could have a look at her account to see if any money had been taken (she worked at DD bank, in fact she set up her account.) She said she couldn't, if it was spotted she would be dismissed.

alanq

There are two aspects to this - the looking (there may be a doubtful excuse such as searching for sales opportunities) and the telling to others of what they have seen for which there is no excuse. However, the latter will be more difficult to prove.

If unauthorised access has been made to your personal data or that data has been revealed to others then a crime may have been committed under the Data Protection Act even if there has been no attempt at fraud. The consequences could therefore be even worse than losing a job.

JuicyJesus

There has to be a reasonable business reason to access the records.

If it's for a sales opportunity, or for a service reason, it's allowed. If it's just for the curiosity of the staff member or because the customer has a funny name or they're trying to see if JLS all have accounts with the same bank, it isn't.

chambta

JuicyJesus wrote: »

There has to be a reasonable business reason to access the records.

If it's for a sales opportunity, or for a service reason, it's allowed. If it's just for the curiosity of the staff member or because the customer has a funny name or they're trying to see if JLS all have accounts with the same bank, it isn't.

Quite.

In the vast majority of cases it'd be quite plausible to explain it as being for a valid business reason.

Yorkie1

I'd probably report it. You are not responsible for this person's conduct, nor the outcome. They took responsibility for any potential outcome at the time they decided to snoop.

I've just had to do my annual data protection etc type training. This year, one of the things it focused on was un/authorised access to data and what you did with it afterwards. The behaviour you describe breaches both elements of proper data handling and data protection.

I'd put in all the information and let the bank deal with it in the way they wish.