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HSBC Bank Sends Activated Debit Cards Through Mail
Knowzy writes "At least two divisions at HSBC Bank apparently failed card issuing 101 and are mailing out debit cards pre-activated. Because they are debit cards, fraudulent transactions come directly out of a victim's checking account. A similar report from 2004 suggests this issue is longstanding and widespread. When confronted with the evidence, HSBC would not commit to fixing this issue, preferring instead to offer vague statements like, 'Through our systems and analytics, we focus on the greatest and most active threats in an effort to avoid negatively impacting customer experience.'"
quote"A new car built by my company leaves somewhere traveling at 60 mph. The rear differential locks up. The car crashes and burns with everyone trapped inside. Now, should we initiate a recall? Take the number of vehicles in the field, A, multiply by the probable rate of failure, B, multiply by the average out-of-court settlement, C. A times B times C equals X. If X is less than the cost of a recall, we don't do one."
Substitute recall for "policy change".
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
HSBC was the old Marine Midland bank -- a horrible institution under any name. Anyone who puts any money in HSBC is already a huge risk. This is only a single issue they gamble with your money.
I insist my Bank either mails to the local branch for pick up (with ID) or in some cases sends by signed courier. Almost every service representitive, when questioned thinks this is a "good idea" because they admit they hear of an enormous ammount of fraud this way. Banks have no interest in doing this by default in my area.
I understand it's usual practice in MOST countries to mail pre-activated cards (maily credit, debit not so much) to residential addresses. Indeed credit cards go 'missing' in the mail often.
This is one of the most common methods of physically obtaining a credit card. Even if you have to go to the branch to get the card activated by a pin, which occurs with Debit cards (credit cards you just need to sign the back of them and their good to go) the fraudsters know branches are slack about correctly checking ID and obtaining a fake or doctored ID is trivial.
My advice, for you own good, insist you pick up your new card from your local branch, if you have the option of paying for a signed courier if the bank won't then do so.
After logging in slashdot still does not take you back to the page you were on. It's been that way for 20 years.
Here's the thing. You need a database server, an interactive phone system, and humans to talk to people who hit wrong buttons or don't have a clear enough phone line for touch tones... all of which cost money!
So, if the cost of faking the authentication and paying the fraud off weeks later (if it's caught by the consumer in time) is less than running the real system, that's profit for the bank's shareholders and our financial system requires the bank do what's best for the shareholders, not the customers.
Visa, MasterCard, AmEx, Discover, etc. should enforce a standard for these things, but they don't because if they did they'd have to punish HSBC, and in order to do that they'd lose transaction fees from a competitor that HSBC would most likely start....
My local credit unions either refuse to issue credit cards, or have co-branded cards that are actually issued by the major bank down the street from them. Credit cards is a risky game that small banks can't afford, because if the major employer in town shuts down they just might get defaults from enough people that the banks stability could be at stake. They aren't in the Too Big To Fail club.
Seriously. We aren't talking about credit cards here - we're talking about cards with a PIN number. Guess it wrong a few times, the account gets locked. The odds of someone guessing a 4+ digit code in 3 tries or less? You're more likely to be mugged by the security officer outside of your bank on your way to complain.
I lost a job a little over a year ago. The government made my employer pay for insurance for in case they let me go for no fault of my own, and they didn't make a claim that it was my fault when they let me go, so I'm still collecting a weekly payment from the government where the biggest catch is that I have to make an effort to get another job. My benefits are about to run out, but 58 out of 99 US Senators (We'll miss you Mr. Byrd!) seem to think the government should pay for me to get more weekly checks, such a bill already passed the US House of Reps and would certainly be signed if it reached the President's inbox.
Yep. The government doesn't have a duty to protect me... they just like to and I'm not going to tell them to stop.
my relation had a cash ISA with the bank - it took a politely worded threat of changing accounts and ISA to a competitor
I still remember the time I had a major bank screw up and erroneously charge me something like $150 in service fees. The entire thing was completely and entirely their fault, but their "policy" was not to reverse the charges in cases like this.
I calmly explained to the branch manager that I would pull everything out of the bank if they persisted in their decision. At the time, this included a chequing account, two savings accounts, a retirement investment portfolio, and a term deposit that was (rather fortuitously) coming up for renewal. The manager must have thought I was bluffing because she said there's nothing more she could do.
It took me about 4 weeks to thoroughly unwed myself from that bank and move every last penny to a competing institution, but I must say it was some of the most enjoyable and emotionally satisfying paperwork I've ever done.
If libertarians are so opposed to effective government, why don't they all move to Somalia?
First, maybe if your employer wasn't forced to pay "insurance" money to the government, they would not have needed to lay you off.
Second, that forced insurance was also taken out of your paycheck. Maybe if so much money hadn't been going to "insurance" you could have saved some money so you wouldn't be a burden on society when you were laid you off.
Third, as one of the people paying you to sit on your ass wasting time and money on the internet, get a job, you fucking bum.