I also will never give my date of birth over the phone. I had to terminate a call with my bank when they wanted to identify me by date of birth when they called to sort out a problem I was having. They could have used other ways of identifying me including account information and balances.
I used this to my advantage when changing health insurance. My old one kept calling to try and find out why I was leaving and to possibly stop me changing. Each time, they asked for my date of birth and couldnāt proceed to talk to me as I wouldnāt give it over the phone.
Very true. If it was a genuine caller from a bank, I would expect them to be able to verify that a transaction I could quote, say using my card for a transaction at a shop, would identify me as me.
Plus they could quote my account number, and I could simply agree that was correct, or not.
Same with phone companies. I could quote a number I called on a particular day. And they, if qenuine, could see that.
My son, some time late last year, had a phone call from āServices Australiaā. Someone with an accent which immediately made him wary. They wanted him to confirm his details and were offering a payment of $150 (if I recall correctly) to take part in a survey, so you can understand the suspicions.
My spouse was with him and had him put the call on speaker. Turned out, it was the NDIS survey about funding and services etc. and because they hadnāt got enough people answering the survey they were making phone calls and offering money. My son had actually opted out of it originally.
Yes, heās on a Disability Support Pension, but he wasnāt desperate enough to take the money offer just to satisfy what was a flawed survey designed to tell the government what it wanted to know, rather than what it needed to know.
I agree, asking for ID to be confirmed when they ring you is always suspicious, especially when weāre so often told ābanks will not cold call youā or Government departments wonāt cold call you, you have to call them.
Commonwealth Bank can send a verification message to your Netbank App.
This is an excellent secure method when they call.
Usually when I am out somewhere
I worry also about using banking apis on my phone, if someone gets your passcode then they have access to everything.
Plus if travelling overseas on return boarder security can ask for you passcode and take your away phone and copy if, who are the security personnel, how are they trained, and is the data they take stored securely with controlled access? The boarder force security person (so far as I know) could take your phone and do anything with it
"Due to the high number of scams I never transact any business of any sort over the phone. I hope you appreciate this important layer of security. If you represent a legitimate business please contact me through my preferred email contact. Thank you. " If they say anything other than ok, I just repeat the message in the same friendly manner, exactly the way they do with the script they read off.
Of course I do ring organisations, but unless I make the call my assumption is that it is always a scam.
A bit to the side. A completely inane chat (eg not a voice call, and an agent not a chatbot) with Woolies, paraphrased:
Me: It looks like Woolies discontinued Product X, is that the case?
Woolies Agent: Please provide your DOB so I can verify your identity
Me: You do not need my identity to answer that and I have not logged into anything, so why?
Woolies Agent: Please provide your DOB so I can verify your identity and answer your question.
I closed the chat, rang in, and it went well with a very helpful agent who never asked about my DOB or anything else excepting my location, who confirmed they discontinued Product X and checked if she could find remaining local stock.
Conclusion - companies have inconsistent policies or training across their operational areas and often the policies in place have not been well considered.
That is the reply I give to unsolicited phone calls.
I deal very differently with emails, that was just not the subject of the discussion.
With ALL forms of organisations contacting me I do the following.
Independently check my account. Never click a link
Independently ring the organisation. Never use a phone number given to you
Never trust any contact (in a business sense) that I do not initiate.
In short any contact I receive is only ever an alert I must actively check and followup.
BTW: I rarely make phone calls if they are at all avoidable. Primarily because they are massively inconvenient for me, I have little to no phone access at work and detest having to wait an hour or more for a business to actually answer my call only to find the person I end up speaking with cannot address my issue.
Appreciate the prompt response and clarification.
Many businesses have been hacked with their email service compromised. Itās also possible customer details have been accessed, sufficient to identify or determine a customers phone contact.
Agree any contact needs to be carefully assessed. Any requiring a response that requires personal or account information be sent is an automatic red flag. We all need strategies as you note to reduce the risks.
About the authentication of messages, one thing I have learned is that using the email apps on smart phones and tablets can be dangerous. Due to screen space limitation these apps donāt show the actual email address of the sender automatically. The message might show Australian Taxation Office as the sender, but not the detailed address until clicked on, whereupon you might see ājoecitizen@icloud.comā, whereas the PC- or laptop-based email programs would show the real address right beside the moniker.
Over the years, originators of bogus emails have improved their writing skills such that the telltale signs of bad English are no longer obvious. Therefore one should still use a PC or laptop for important textual communication.
Why would Border Security officers want to access a travellerās phone content? I have never encountered an incident like that. This is especially alarming if it happens to returning travellers for no legitimate reason.
They may look for illegal porn, evidence of human trafficking, child abuse, evidence of non-compliance with a visa, and drug dealing among other criminal activities. Some think they search just because they can.
In some countries it is not discretionary other than to give the border agents the phone and passwords when they request same.
Thanks for that linked article. I did think they could compel you to did your password ie I did think it was unlawful to refuse, but according to the article is seems like it is not. I originally heard about NZ doing this, before I knew about Australian doing it also, and I think it unlawful to refuse there.
I have heard of a few people (only on social media) that have had it happen, one said they were a couple returning from Fiji (post covid) and were just too tired to refuse but afterwards to wife was feeling violated.
If they are calling you, you should not have to answer any questions about personal information. They should have that and only be confirming your details e.g. your email address is ā¦ and your mobile ends in ā¦ Why are they ringing you if they donāt have these details already? Dodgy as heck to me.
I would ask for their name and ring the advertised number back on their legit website. It might take a little time to get them again but I would rather do that then have my identity stolen or my bank details etc compromised.
