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Admin
At least they had you on camera when you got your cash. ;)
Admin
A security system is only as good as its stupidest full-access employee.
Admin
thats no wtf, thats daily busines
Admin
For a minute there I thought I was reading the Risks list
Admin
PIN number?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAS_syndrome
Admin
Hopefully due to her cheery nature and all the referrals she's passed on she'll have been promoted up to somewhere she's not handling actual money anymore.
Admin
The signature thing has always been a WTF. The idea that some random cashier can tell a forged signature from a real signature is ridiculous. I'm not sure why people have ever believed it adds any security whatsoever. As for the rest of the list however, I agree.
Admin
Okay, just for your convenience:
He put the card in the ATM then entered the PI Number wrong three times.
At first he made a mistake around 95th digit, at the other at 98th digit. The third time he got so nervous he just got to enter 3.141593 and his access got disabled.
Admin
I had a somewhat similar (though less severe?) experience with Nordea bank in Denmark. Brought the wrong card while shopping, 3 x bad PIN - oops. Went to my local bank, where the teller smilingly re-activated the card with no questions asked, no ID, no nothing.
Admin
That is hilarious. My bank has asked for ID when my signature didn't match (and honestly, it rarely does... A forger could sign my name better than I can anyway). I've also been asked to sign my name so that it matches the signature on my ID... It's always frustrating when they do, even though I appreciate the security. I want to know when they'll implement facial recognition, finger print, and retna scans. :D
Admin
The first part isn't much a WTF. For small amounts, banks wont bother. If it's fraud, the real person will call it in, they pull out the cameras and the signature, see it's not a match, and give you back your money. They keep things fast for convenience, and the small percentage of fraud is the cost of business to keep customers happy.
If it were a larger amount, things would be different. I had to withdraw $3000 to buy a car, and I wasn't able to do it at my branch, but a different one. I show up, they have me sign the paper, and ask me to wait a few minutes for a fax from my branch with my signature so they could compare it.
Now, the second part of the story with the manager, that's not only a serious WTF, but probably also violated some laws unless the manager happened to know you by sight.
Admin
Sorry, don't believe the bit about using fake signature -- you needed the money, you certainly weren't risking not getting them on the spot. I wonder what else you made up to make an entertaining WTF story.
Admin
C'mon!, the number of girls that can recognise the X-Men symbol must be about 234 in the entire world - why would one be working at your bank, WTF
Admin
You will have walked past security cameras.
If you later turned out not to be the bank's customer, they could go to the police with a picture of you and say "this man robbed our bank".
Somebody will have decided that the cost of the customer getting upset that they're stranded without money and moving to another bank is higher than the cost of the (low) risk of losing a few quid to a social engineering attack.
Admin
I also (used to) bank with the Halifax and can attest to the fact that as a company, they are an absolute joke!
Why the use of the phrase 'ATM card' over and over though? This is a British bank so use British terms! :)
Admin
Banking is a WTF IMHO.
but I'm pretty sure they got training on it, back in the good ol' days (before I ever started banking that is), though I'm down right certain they don't anymore, I rarely use anything but the ATM but the last time I did have to deal with a teller -I sign my name: initial+surname and I'm told my signature does match the file, that is the bank says I FAIL at being me, but before I could worry the tell spins around the flat screen to show my file, points at the image of signature 8 years prior and exclaims "try signing it like this" only it identical for all important features, except the first name is included in full.
If only it wasn't so much of a hassle to change banks...
Admin
I'm English, I say "ATM card" or "cash card". I didn't realise there was an official version. What is it?
Admin
But that depends on the account owner realising that there was an erronious transaction. If the account owner doesn't spot it - which could be possible if it is an account with a high volume of transactions - then the robber has gotten away with robbery.
The expectation is that the secuity measures a bank implements will actually be enforced.
Admin
Except for my government issued ID (driver's license), none of my cards have my signature on them.
They all say: "Ask for ID. :-)"
Yes, the smiley face is also included. I specifically want something odd/weird that will catch the eye. I also want to convey the idea, "I won't be upset if you ask me for ID. I am asking you to ask me for my ID. I will be happy if you do."
Despite this, I find it very rare for anybody to ask. But I always thank those who do.
Admin
I get chuckles from clerks who notice that I wrote "Help, I'm trapped in a credit card factory!" on mine. They don't usually ask for ID, even then, though.
Admin
I thought the machines ate the card after the third wrong attempt...
Admin
I arrive at a customers door and say please sign this. The customer says "its not my card, does that matter?". I say just write the name of the person who's card it is on the slip. Seriously, if you ask then to sign a credit card slip in mid air, you'll just get some random scribble anyway and I'm no handwriting expert.
Admin
The Real WTF is that he is requesting British Pounds - when is the UK going to adopt the Euro?
Admin
It could be worse.
Not long ago here were robbing banks' safe for 14 hours without anyone knowing.
I wont go to that bank even they pay me.
Admin
Technically a card that is not signed is not valid. I've never personally seen this cause anyone a problem, but credit card companies are against "See ID":
http://usa.visa.com/merchants/risk_management/card_present.html?it=Search
"If the card has a “See ID” in place of a signature…
Request a signature. Ask the cardholder to sign the card and provide current government identification, such as a driver's license or passport (if local law permits). Check the signature. Be sure that the signature on the card matches the one on the transaction receipt and the additional identification. If the signatures appear reasonably the same and the authorization request is approved, go ahead and complete the transaction. "
Admin
Obviously the bank teller recognized "Tann San" so there was no need for ID. How else could the teller know that the letter for the higher rate had not been responded to? The real WTF is why the tellers at my bank do not recognize me after my going there every two weeks for the last 6 years.
Admin
According to my bank-employee girlfriend - you must sign your bank cards, if you dont then you are liable for any losses occurred if a stolen card is used fraudulently. So the teller didnt care that the card was not signed and the signature was the x-men logo.
Admin
Admin
My account for last month had the following curious entry:
VALUE PLUS FEE $8.95
I mean, they're charging me for the privilege of allowing them to make money off my money! That's "Value Plus"! That's the real WTF. And I only got this charge because for a period of about 3 days my chequing account dropped below the magical "no fee" balance limit after I paid my property taxes in one big chunk. It dropped below the "limit" by about $40.
Admin
having worked there, it's not much better internaly.
You could prety much handcraft a 'TransferFunds' message and dump it on the queue...
nice...
Admin
My old company used to use the now defunct First Union bank Well...actually, they bought out Wachovia and made a name change because FU was notoriously known to be bad...so everyone thinks that Wachovia bought them out. But I digress. Anyhow...I recieved my paycheck each week, but rather than depositing into my bank, I would cash them out at First Union. They had this policy that I had to provide my thumb-print on the back of my checks when I cashed or deposited them. I asked why, and they cited that it was for security reasons. Fair enough. But the WTF is that I intentionally started smearing my thumb-prints each time to see if anyone ever caught on. Most of the tellers weren't exactly star employees, and I got away with it for several months. Finally, one day I got a teller that was on his game (he must've been new). First, he noticed that the name on my check didn't match my drivers license (I go by my middle name...check was made out to Travis, License says Daniel). Then he asked me to re-print my thumb because it was smeared. Finally...he asked me if I was interested in opening an account. I wasn't interested, but I decided to speak with the manager anyhow. I told the manager about my ordeal the last several months and how I thought this fellow was the best teller I had visited and that I thought he should have a promotion.
Here's the final WTF - the manager's response: "I appreciate your positive feedback, sir. But I'm afraid Mr. Whotsisname isn't eligable for a promotion. He won't be eligible until he graduates college."
"What's his degree?"
"I believe it's architecture..."
Don't believe he had any intent of returning to FU after he was done.
Admin
IIRC, a few years ago the rocker Bif Naked tried to deposit a check made out to her to her account in Vancouver BC, but ran into difficulties as the teller wasn't sure if it was really her. Google for pictures and ask yourself how likely it is that one would misidentify this young woman!
Admin
I refuse to deal with the halifax on the grounds of their idiotic adverts with extremely annoying dancing/singing 'employees'
Admin
Meh.
Recently got married and decided to open a joint account with new wife.
Both had Barclays bank accounts, so went into bank dreading the prospect of some tedious process. Got lucky when they said wife could do it by herself another day, if i signed some stuff and provided ID etc. etc...
When she went back to check on something else with the "personal banker" she ended up with my account up on the display, for both my wife + her friend who were with her to see, and then proceeded to trawl through my bank statements looking for something.
Happy I as not... complaint to Barclays still pending...
Admin
The problem with leaving your card unsigned is that anyone who finds the card can sign it, then use it. When the cashier or teller checks the signature, it will match. The best practice is to put "See ID" on the back.
I worked at a bank for 3 years as a teller, and I have to say that the bank's security policy was pretty good. It's the tellers that don't follow the policy that's the problem. And it's not even their fault all the time. If every other customer started yelling at you for asking for identification, then you'd stop asking eventually too.
Admin
The only place I have ever had this enforced was at the post office.
Admin
From my loong experience of having both personal and business accounts with Barclays, I can assure you your written complaint has been taken seriously, they take their supply of toilet paper very very serious.
I think that sums up what they did with my complaint after 1k went missing from my account, along with the other incident: The day I opened my business account, fined me £30.00 (they deducted the account fee on opening the account, which put me to -£10.00, then charged me the very same instant £30 for going overdrawn)
Admin
Actually, signatures on bank cards, credit cards and the like are not intended for authentication or identification. Most frequently the signature line is provided so the owner can indicate they agree to abide by the terms and conditions of usage of said card.
Pull out one of your cards and read the fine print near the signature line. I've got one that says "NOT VALID UNLESS SIGNED". And if your card is unsigned, a vendor (at least here in the states) can simply request that you sign the card right there and then. The card additionally reads, "The use of this card constitutes your acceptance of the Card Rules." And I imagine the signature is one more way of accepting those rules.
Admin
True, but he's not robbed the bank in that case, so it's not their problem.
Admin
I think that's only if you're using an ATM at the bank. If you use an independently owned ATM or another bank's ATM, they don't confiscate it.
Admin
Got a good laugh from me there, adiener :)
Admin
Admin
Admin
Admin
At least on the ATM system for which I coded, it was an option. The card issuer could choose how many bad PIN attempts were allowed before locking out the card, and whether the card would be "eaten" after that. (A bug in our software once accidentally ate all the cards used in the state of Illinois over the course of a weekend.) Capturing the card is an excellent way to make this one kind of ATM fraud more difficult. However, it's a real pain for the branch to handle the return of cards to customers who just plain forgot or mis-entered their PINs.
Admin
If your name is John Smith then don't put "See ID" on the back of your credit card.
Admin
As some earlier poster said, every security system is only as good as the people carrying it out.
Any time there's a security breach, it seems someone's always saying how this is the fault of the clerk or the guard at the metal detector or whoever for not being sufficiently attentive or failing to follow policy. I think that's grossly unfair. Nobody can be alert every hour of every day they're on duty. Human beings get tired and distracted and bored. You can write on a piece of paper that they will be alert every hour of every day, but that's not going to make it happen.
I think this is particularly true of security at airports. Let's face it, 99.99% of airport security people will never see a hijacker in their entire lives. And they know it. Can you really expect them to be endlessly vigilant? It's just unrealistic.
Admin
My brother and his wife had a similar story... my brother opened an account with a new bank and asked to have his wife added as an approved user of the account and was told everything was all set. Unfortunately, she didn't have the account number when she first went to the bank to withdraw funds. Upon asking a teller to look up the account number she was told she wasn't an approved user and couldn't be given the account number. She complained that they had been told everything had been taken care of and the teller informed her she'd have to call the home office to check into the problem. What did the teller do? She promptly pulled out a scrap of paper, wrote down the account number, and picked up her phone... all while my brother's wife was standing there about a foot away. Apparently, the teller didn't even try to hide the account number or anything.
Admin
When my wife divorced me, she took my name off of our joint account and I opened a new bank account in just my own name at a different bank. Then when I settled into an apartment a couple of weeks later -- like in most divorces, I suppose, she kept the house, and in general we split everything 50/50: she got all the assets, and I got all the debts -- but anyway, when I got an apartment I filled out an address-change form at the bank.
About a month later I got a letter from the bank offering some better deal on my account. Except I quickly discovered it was not my account: it was an account in my ex-wife's name but with my apartment address on it. It turned out that this was an account that she had had for about two years, but had never told me about and apparently forgot to mention when we were listing assets in the divorce settlement. Hmm. When I gave the bank my new address, they must have looked for other accounts with the same prior address and changed them also. As this wasn't the bank where we had had our joint account, there had been no reason to even bring up that I was getting divorced. It got me to wondering: If I went to the bank and tried to withdraw money from her account, would they have just given it to me? Even if not, if they sent me that letter, they were probably going to send me her statements, at the very least there was a breach of privacy. What if I tried to use that account for electronic funds transfers? If I'd been a vindictive person, I could have had all kinds of fun.
Admin
Doesn't suprise me. A good few years ago I opened a Halifax savings account using nothing more than an ID card for a local snooker club that I found in the street (and a little charm).