Proving who you are - the other end

FlorayG

Octopus called me on Friday and then asked ME to prove who I am by giving the personal details I'm usually asked for when I call them. I said it was them who had to prove who they are not me and they said they couldn't talk to me about 'the account in question' unless I proved I was the account holder because of GDPR so we finished the call
So when I get a call from someone asserting that they are my utility provider/bank/council, how do I get THEM to prove they are who they say they are before I engage with them? SO many scams around these days I'm super careful; just because it's the correct 'phone number that they seem to be calling from means nothing these days and calling them back later you often can't find the person who called you or why they were calling

fatbelly

Ask them to put it in writing to you

kimwp

Ask them what department they are and how to dial through to them once you've called the official number. Hang up and find the official number to dial. 

Maybe ask them what they are calling about first, it may not be worth the effort.

HampshireH

Take their name and phone the normal number back and ask to be put through

jackieblack

I used to get these kind of calls regularly from Santander. I don’t understand why they can’t see how scam-like it appears 🤷🏻‍♀️

Depending on what they claimed it was about I always did as kimwp suggested, and rang back using a different phone (ie if they’d rung my landline I rang back on my mobile, and vice versa) or told them to put it in writing.

FlorayG

fatbelly said:

Ask them to put it in writing to you

Oh I did and he emailed me, so it was genuine after all because I didn't give him my email address over the 'phone

Grumpy_chap

FlorayG said:

fatbelly said:

Ask them to put it in writing to you

Oh I did and he emailed me, so it was genuine after all because I didn't give him my email address over the 'phone

Or it means a scammer has your name, mobile and email.
It is possible to spoof legitimate sender addresses.

marcia_

 I would never answer these questions because I think they might be part of a scam. Easy to get a genuine number from your bill and ring them back 

FlorayG

Grumpy_chap said:

FlorayG said:

fatbelly said:

Ask them to put it in writing to you

Oh I did and he emailed me, so it was genuine after all because I didn't give him my email address over the 'phone

Or it means a scammer has your name, mobile and email.
It is possible to spoof legitimate sender addresses.

Yes I know - but this one knew all about the issue they were trying to deal with, which a scammer wouldn't

born_again

FlorayG said:

Octopus called me on Friday and then asked ME to prove who I am by giving the personal details I'm usually asked for when I call them. I said it was them who had to prove who they are not me and they said they couldn't talk to me about 'the account in question' unless I proved I was the account holder because of GDPR so we finished the call
So when I get a call from someone asserting that they are my utility provider/bank/council, how do I get THEM to prove they are who they say they are before I engage with them? SO many scams around these days I'm super careful; just because it's the correct 'phone number that they seem to be calling from means nothing these days and calling them back later you often can't find the person who called you or why they were calling

Look at it from their end.
They could have dialled a out of date number (happens a lot, as people forget to update everyone) or a wrong number. 
No security would mean a big GDPR breech if account details discussed.

I've just had the same with them, but was expecting their call after email exchange.
Got a nice free heated blanket for Mrs 😍

From a banks perspective we can confirm 2 questions with a customer. None of it account related & very limited answers. So say 2 numbers out of DOB.

TELLIT01

I worked for DWP for about 7 years.  I only had this question posed to me once in all that time.  It's a perfectly valid question, particularly as I was calling them because the system wouldn't accept the bank account details we had been supplied with.  I agreed with the claimant and suggested they send the bank details in again by post, using the address on other documents she had received from us.  Alternatively, phone the number on the paperwork she had.