Sitting at work the other morning, I receive a phone call on my mobile; “no number” on the display. “Hi, this is Dan from (insert your favourite bank), as a security measure, may I ask you for your date of birth?” “Who are you,” says I, “perhaps I should ask for your date of birth.” “Sure,” says he, “if that would help you.”
This is going nowhere, so I hang up the call.
The next morning, another call without caller-ID. “Hi this is Sara from (insert the same favourite bank). As a security measure, can you tell me your date of birth?” “Listen,” says I, “I am not going to reveal personal details about myself to some random person who happens to call me on my mobile claiming to be from (yet again, insert your favourite bank) asking for my date of birth.” *Click.*
Seems after two such calls, they have received the message as there were no more. Either that or I paid them some money!
Banks are very good at protecting themselves; unfortunately, they are very poor at protecting their customers. Never mind that customers are endlessly fooled by a variety of phishing emails, by phoney card-readers on ATMs. When a bank wants to contact you by phone, the power is all with them.
Let me offer some advice to all the banks.
Firstly, and most importantly, allow caller-ID to be sent with the call. With time, I can identify that it really is (insert your favourite bank) calling.
Secondly, allow me to call-back; to the SAME operator! This isn’t difficult; have the operator give me a code-number and invite me to look up the bank’s phone number in the white pages. When the call is answered, I can type in the code number and be connected to the original operator. Perhaps this automatic system might also include verification of some personal information. No matter what is required, the operator is not privy to any confidential information.
As a third option, maybe they could send me a card of “one-time pass phrases” that I could type into my phone before the call proceeds.
No matter what, it makes NO SENSE for some random person, claiming to be from my bank, to ask for personal information. No excuses, no chance, no way.
Banks – please protect my security as much as you protect your own. I wonder, is this a cause of churn?
