HSBC: I just need to check your postcode.
ME: No you doubt.
HSBC: It's for security.
ME: I don't have an account with you.
HSBC: Well, it's for security, sir.
ME: But I don't have an account with you. Why would you need to speak to me unless you are trying to sell me something?
HSBC: It's for security, sir.
ME: Can I have your postcode please?
HSBC: We don't give out that information.
ME: [bangs head on desk] Exactly.
HSBC: I need your postcode, sir.
ME: Are you completely deranged?
HSBC: If you'd just give me your postcode, sir.
ME: Do you play the robot in Star Wars 4? Listen to this very carefully. I am not giving you my postcode. Why don't you do something innovative, and if you want to tell me something, write me a letter.
HSBC: Well, I need your postcode, sir.
ME: Click.
I want to emigrate.
40 comments:
Why are you so certain it really was HSBC? Sounds like a scammer pretending to be from HSBC to me.
If you had given the caller your postcode I bet the next question would have been to ask for your account or card number.
I get calls from debt collection agencies.
dca: This is XYZ, could you give me your house number and postcode, please?
me: No. I don't give my personal details out on the phone. Fuck off.
Works every time.
insider trading at the bank of England?
Search google for( bank of England 10007558 )
Then scroll topage 14. They transferred out of all equities in late 2006. What information did they use to make this decision?
Err, i'd be surprised if that was HSBC.
HSBC are giving away £200 to every non customer they contact. Hoping they will open an account with them.
well, they are not actually, but I bet your heart skipped a beat
My bank does not phone me unless I ask them to.Of course, you still get a total idiot to speak to. The theme always seems to be repetition, as if saying the same thing five times is going to convince you of their legitimacy.
What you seem to have had was a scammer ...or a journalist.
1) I have also had HSBC ring me and want me to give them confidential Company Account information "as a security measure". I refused AND told them it was extremely insecure. They had the temerity to write to me & tell me how secure their marketing system was!
2) I just tell cold callers I am retired - most of them put the phone down without me asking them to.
Droids, not robots. And pretty smart ones at that ..
tell them you are recording the call and intend making a formal complaint to their c.e.o.
If it was HSBC, then since they're the 'global bank' emigrating wouldn't be much use...
Obsidian said...
'If it was HSBC, then since they're the 'global bank' emigrating wouldn't be much use...'
innit
Sounds dubious. Could be legit, but I carried a story about a scam were people pretend to be from BT and drain the money out of the bank accounts of people who give them their details.
Either way, well for standing firm:
http://thatsnews.blogspot.com/2009/03/phone-arrears-payment-scam-warning.html
This is annoying and stupid call. I wouldn’t entertainment his or her call at all.
I want to emigrate.
I can send you some brochures.
"may be a scam"? Pretty well certainly WAS and I'm surprised that Iain isn't aware of this!!!!
MY bank, Natwest, also phoned ME but I refused to tell them anything. the lady was VERY nice and said "ring the number on your statement and ask for...." I did. It WAS genuine and they had spotted unauthorised activity on my credit card! Rapidly fixed by them.
It IS exactly the same with emails.
The ones from banks with which you have NO relationship are EASY to spot. If it appears to be YOUR bank, or Paypal then be warned. They may well write to you - if they actually have your email address = but they NEVER, repeat NEVER, say "click this link". What they DO say, if there really IS a problem, is "log-in normally and do the following".
IF you click a link you WILL find that although the address appears to INCLUDE say "HSBC" it is NOT the usual main site - which may be say www.https.hsbc.co.uk or whatever.
BE WARNED
I put the phone down at once. When they ring back, (which they do) I tell them "I am recording our conversation".
They then put the phone down...
Iain, For a fee, put your calls through a reputable telephone service like MoneyPenny. I now only take sales calls when I need to let off steam and have a proper argument with someone!
EG
Pigeon in your bank account
***Why don't you do something innovative, and if you want to tell me something, write me a letter.***
Honestly, Iain, you're SO unreasonable. How can the poor man write you a letter? He doesn't know your postcode.
It wasn't a Nigerian dude by any chance was it? Did he ask you for your sort code and bank account details so he could transfer the monies to you?!
The Fonejacker strikes again! Lol!!
Thanks to a very nice organisation called the EU, the Government had to change the law some years ago and make the TPS mandatory.
You need to register your phone (all my land lines and mobiles are registered) and it becomes illegal for you to be cold-called like this.
[I used to run an anti-junk calls site many years ago and the EU made it redundant.]
Which site (stone me) is still up http://users.powernet.co.uk/hack/junk/ at a subdomain I no longer own.
That sounds like a scammer to me too. I like the fact that you asked them for their postcode.
I actually do have an account with HSBC. They occasionally phone up and ask for my postcode (legitimately) but I STILL don't give it to them. They could be anyone.
Like Madasafish, I usually just put the phone down while cold-callers are mid-spiel. I was once called back by one who, as soon as I answered, barked "You didn't say goodbye" and hung up on me. Made me chuckle anyway.
As far as PayPal, Ebay or any other organisation with whom you have a relationship, they will ALWAYS use your registered name in any contact with you.
Emails addressed to Dear Ebay Member or Dear PayPal Member are fake and should be dumped.
If you use Thunderbird, you can stop images (one of the ways to put a virus on your machine) being automatically loaded. If you're worried about the email containing malware, you can right-click on it and, then, press ctrl+U. This will show the message in pure text - you can read the important bits, safe in the knowledge that no malware can be installed.
Phone callers should be able to identify you, by name and address. If they have your details and need to check them, the organisation should ask "We have this postcode on file, is it correct?"
Always ask them to give you the information that they have on file and you will confirm the details to them.
If a call centre calls (like the person from "HSBC" was give her a really weird reason why you can't answer her question, like "I'm sorry, but I'm a practising Zen Buddhist priest and it is against my religion.
Very annoying, certainly, but what could they do with your postcode even if you were willing to give it to them?
One of my colleagues came up with the best idea. When you get intrusive calls, say "I'll just go and get my details", put the phone down (but do not replace the receiver) for 10 minutes or so...
If I'm expecting a call and don't want to tie up the line I just say "No thank you" and ring off.
I refuse to speak to my bank over the phone or even open any emails that are supposed to come from them.
I thought that you banked with ING : you advertise them so much!
I agree and (call me old-fashioned) but I’ve never had anything to do with on-line banking for security reasons. [I don’t even use holes in the wall.]
But again, to get rid of unwanted junk calls, you just have to register your phone numbers with the TPS. Praise the EU.
Be a Refusenik.
Say No to this sort of intrusion.
The original definition of refusenik was someone who wanted to leave the country, due to an oppressive regime, but could not.
That's most of us!
Totally agree about joining the TPS - you know that any cold callers that call you then are by definition disreputable and if you tell them so they usually ring off pretty quickly. There is also a Mail Preference Service
I'm glad it's not just me. But Citibank are better (if bankrupt). Last time they phoned me and said 'I need to ask you a few security questions.' I said 'no I need to ask you some, you phoned me.' And the person in the call centre said 'that's fair, what are your questions?'. That took me aback. So, I said 'what is my middle name?' and 'list each payment from my current account for over £500 last year?'. They complied. I continued with the conversation. Perfectly reasonable customer service I thought.
Funnily enough, I use the HSBC subsidiary First Direct. I find them to be absolutely brilliant, one of the best organisations that I have ever dealt with. On occasions when they have rung me, looking after my best interests, they are more than happy to go through security checks to prove who they are. My daughters bank with HSBC itself and it is not in the same league. However, your phone call does sound like a scam to me.
Strange that this non-story is currently headlining your blog Iain, but not a single mention of the very important Channel 4 Despatches programme this evening on Old Etonian Boris Pfaffle Johnson, which fully exposed him for the lying, publicity-hungry, confused, imbecilic and self-serving moron he truly is.
One thing that really stuck out from it - he was a close friend of convicted psycho Darius Guppy. Now Cameron, of course, was part of young Boris's circle at Eton and Oxford. Need we go on?
I'd have said my postcode was SW1A 2AA...
Not from HSBC. How can you be so gullible, yet so alert as not to fall for "HSBC"'s demands at the same time?
This was not HSBC. Or at least there's no reason to believe it was.
HSBC do call up, as to NatWest and ask "security" questions.
I always ask that they send me a letter about whatever useless, rent-seeking "innovation" they want to push.
I then tell them that it they are encouraging fraud by requiring people to divulge information to a cold caller.
Right proper ray of sunshine, me.
What a spineless lot. It's your phone. End call. Job done.
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