Bank cashiers snooping in accounts

Bloomberg

krlyr wrote: »

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.

You should without question report this person, what they are doing is no better than someone in your house opening your postal statement and reading it. If someone is c**t to snoop on someone else's account then they should lose their job. X is betraying the bank and you. I dare say that you would have not written this post unless you were 99% sure that you were right.


Funny enough about seventeen years ago a friend of mine was dating a girl and said that he would buy her a car. Her mum worked at Barclays the same bank which he used. She checked his account and then informed the daughter that her boyfriend was hard up - he was subsequently dumped. I know this because she then started dating another friend of mine and he told me what happened - sickening.

olly300

Bloomberg wrote: »

You should without question report this person, what they are doing is no better than someone in your house opening your postal statement and reading it. If someone is c**t to snoop on someone else's account then they should lose their job. X is betraying the bank and you. I dare say that you would have not written this post unless you were 99% sure that you were right.

Actually it's different.

The person in the bank is breaking the law, and also their contractual agreement with their employer.

The person in the house isn't breaking the law as you are allowed to open post delivered to your door regardless of who it is addressed to as long as you don't use it for personal gain i.e. fraud.

Bloomberg

olly300 wrote: »

Actually it's different.

The person in the bank is breaking the law, and also their contractual agreement with their employer.

The person in the house isn't breaking the law as you are allowed to open post delivered to your door regardless of who it is addressed to as long as you don't use it for personal gain i.e. fraud.

When I said that X is no better than a person in your house opening your postal statement I meant in terms of their moral standing and made no reference to the law. That said I always thought that it was illegal to open mail not addressed to you but that is a separate issue.

Yorkie1

Bloomberg wrote: »

That said I always thought that it was illegal to open mail not addressed to you but that is a separate issue.

No, it's not. Olly300 is right in the general sense although not in the technical details.

A person commits an offence if he opens the mail if, intending to act to a person's detriment and without reasonable excuse, he opens a postal packet which he knows or reasonably suspects has been incorrectly delivered to him - Section 84(3) of the Postal Services Act 2000.

Intention of personal gain is not technically part of the offence - although it's often good evidence of intention to act to another's detriment.

zildjian

Theres a few high profile cases of bank staff looking at footballers accounts etc in scotland. I know that!

Im pretty sure they are all aware of consequences of doing so, im sure its a matter of time before they get caught!