Lloyds breaking their own security rules

Legacy_user

We are constantly warned about not disclosing security information to unknown phone callers. So yesterday when I got a call purporting to come from Lloyds, who said she needed to ask some security questions, I put the phone down.
I tried 1471 and the number had been withheld, confirming my suspicions.

Today I rang Lloyds to check, and was told emphatically the call was not genuine - they did not withhold phone numbers, and they did not ask for security information out of the blue.

Then I got a call from the same person who rang yesterday, saying the call was genuine (well, she would say that !) and was in connection with my ISA transfer. I am in fact transfering an ISA, so perhaps the call is genuine. But I said I was not willing to accept her asurance, especially as she was breaking Lloyds' own rule that had just been outlined by Lloyds security, so she will write instead.

What's the matter with organisations like this? Why do they state their rules and give security advice to customers, and then think they can break the rules? They are undermining their own campaign against fraud.

Stevie_Palimo

Could be just a simple error for all you know through the dialling system in place that they use, Easy rectified by setting it to allowing number to be shown.

agrinnall

The withheld phone number may simply be that the call was from somebody in a non-customer facing team whose phone goes through a corporate switchboard that does not provide the calling number - that was the case when I worked in such a position in a major bank, and indeed is the case now with my current Higher Education employer.

Goldiegirl

agrinnall wrote: »

The withheld phone number may simply be that the call was from somebody in a non-customer facing team whose phone goes through a corporate switchboard that does not provide the calling number - that was the case when I worked in such a position in a major bank, and indeed is the case now with my current Higher Education employer.

Yes, when I worked for a bank, the phone number always came up as 'withheld', as it went through a switchboard.

Also, if the bank is calling for a reason, they need to make sure they are talking to the correct person. So they need to ask questions to confirm who they are talking to. That's not asking questions out of the blue, that's asking questions for a reason.

When I had to call customers, if they were unhappy about answering security questions, I told them I'd put all the notes on their file, and then they could phone back and the call centre operative could ask them the questions instead. For some reason, this made them a lot keener to answer the security questions!

Alienna

I recently had a text message from HSBC asking me to call the fraud department, and then provided me with a number. I had an inkling this was legitimate, as my card had been declined a couple of days earlier while making a larger than normal purchase. (And the same thing had happened about six months previously...) However, I was still suspicious, especially as this number was not publicised anywhere on their website! I called their main call centre. While I was waiting, I googled the number the text had asked me to call - and everyone on one of the websites was saying the number was fraudulent, which raised further suspicions. The operator at the main call centre passed me through to the fraud team, who then queried the same transaction they'd initially refused, so it was actually legitimate. I don't have much faith though... :mad:

darkidoe

Maybe we should have some checks our end of the line too. Some security questions only genuine bank staff can answer.

GingerBob_3

darkidoe wrote: »

Maybe we should have some checks our end of the line too. Some security questions only genuine bank staff can answer.

They won't do it. The obstinate banks refuse point blank to "verify they are who they say they are" to coin an overused phrase. However, they expect you to put 100% trust in them, and people who purport to be them. And there's no reason for a bank to withhold its phone number!


A point comes to mind here. If these banks and other financial service providers didn't block so many transactions for no good reason whatsoever, the number of times we'd actually have to speak to them would be vastly reduced.


Do you ever get robot-speak calls asking you to enter "security details"? Well they can stuff that as well! On the rare occasions that's happened to me I immediately put the phone down. And if they were actually disclosing their number, and I had a call blocking facility, they would be blocked as well.

System

Lloyds security themselves told me that they never withheld phone numbers, and if a caller did so then it was not from Lloyds. It was the first question he asked when I rang them - had I tried 1471 to see if it was the correct number. No mention of switchboards etc - he categorically said a customer-facing section of Lloyds did not withhold its number.
So was he lying, or was it a mistake? Either way, it's an inconsistency in their security procedures.

What is the correct procedure then if someone rings up claiming to be from a bank, won't explain why, but says they need security information first? If they withhold the phone number and won't say which department they are from, how is one supposed to call back having checked the number independently ?

System

Never trust a call you didn't initiate

KJSmith

Clifford_Pope wrote: »

Lloyds security themselves told me that they never withheld phone numbers, and if a caller did so then it was not from Lloyds. It was the first question he asked when I rang them - had I tried 1471 to see if it was the correct number. No mention of switchboards etc - he categorically said a customer-facing section of Lloyds did not withhold its number.
So was he lying, or was it a mistake?

You didn't speak to "Lloyds security", you spoke to somebody from telephone banking who is either mis-informed or didn't know any better and wrongly assumed that the bank wouldn't call you from a withheld number. No security rules have been broken.

Clifford_Pope wrote: »

What is the correct procedure then if someone rings up claiming to be from a bank, won't explain why, but says they need security information first? If they withhold the phone number and won't say which department they are from, how is one supposed to call back having checked the number independently ?

They must have explained why, else how would you know the call was in relation to your ISA transfer.
You have to use your judgement. You made an ISA transfer recently and that's what the call is in relation to. You may not have been expecting the call but this means the bank aren't just calling out out of the blue (as you mentioned earlier).

Goldiegirl

darkidoe wrote: »

Maybe we should have some checks our end of the line too. Some security questions only genuine bank staff can answer.

What sort of questions do you suggest?