On 04/08/2011 19:34, Neil Jones wrote:
On 03/08/2011 10:55, Martin Brown wrote:
On 03/08/2011 10:34, Martin wrote:
On Wed, 3 Aug 2011 02:01:35 +0100, "Christina Websell"
wrote:


"Bob wrote in message
...
Just found out I had a Twitter account, I didn't open it but it had 2
followers despite no input from me at all. How can that happen?
Perhaps it might be worth those who haven't got an account checking
that
they actually haven't.

It can't happen. You've been spammed and scammed.

You cannot have a Twitter (or Facebook) account if you haven't
opened it
yourself, in the same way that you cannot discover you suddenly have an
account at Lloyds bank if you know you haven't ;-)

Plenty of people have found they have bank accounts that they never
opened. UK bank security is a disgrace. My wife forgot her
password/code for internet banking. She visited a bank to get a new
code. The only proof of ID they required was her debit card.

They are supposed to ask for a geographic correct address component as
well like a gas or water bill with your name on it. About 10 minutes to
forge one these days if you are so inclined. It shouldn't matter too
much if all they do is reset the password and send a new one out to the
registered cardholders address. I am amazed how difficult it is in the
UK to prove who you are to a bank in a satisfactory manner. Most bank
clerks do habitually get it wrong and I never volunteer information.

I think there is one substantial point that people fail to understand.
This includes banks most of all!

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS PROOF OF IDENTITY.

Although there are plenty of things that to a casual glance would appear
to be so but you have to ask. I have lived in two countries with local
photo ID cards that provide some basic certified proof of ID. A UK
passport is usually good enough for most practical purposes. It is are
sufficiently hard to forge that only other governments can produce fakes
that are undetectable (and Jackal loopholes have been closed).

I was amazed at how slack the banks were on ID verification after I had
to administer a will. Only one clerk did it right by the book and he was
on the phone to the "help a young clerk with something new service" -
*NONE* of the experienced staff got it right

They all prat around immensely at the outset to open an account because
there are boxes to tick. But an experienced social engineering blagger
can get an astonishingly long way at probing account details by
exploiting their attempts to be helpful to customers. How else do you
thing PI's gets bank details for NoTW stories?

The only people who can be sure of who you are, are people who have
known you whist you grow up. All the methods of obtaining documents that
are EVIDENCE of identity are easily subject to fraud.

Does that person who typed your details into the passport computer know
you? Of course not!

Funny you should mention that. A decade or so back during the passport
office strike HMG issued me with the most sophisticated but badly forged
UK passport I have ever seen. I took photos of it as evidence. They
added a silent "J" to my place of birth so I didn't sign it off. When I
rang to complain they asked for the passport number. I asked which one
they wanted - the one stamped inside the book itself or the one printed
on the back cover. They made me an instant appointment to fix it
(instructions were - make yourself known to security). Queue jumping the
long fractious queue with a security guy at my side was an interesting
experience. I could feel daggers from disgruntled applicants landing in
my back all the time I was being dealt with!

If a bank thinks that a utility bill proves anything then they seriously
need their heads read!

If anyone ever asks for "proof" of identity then your data is not safe
with them because they are likely to be easy prey for fraudsters.

And if they don't ask then they are *certain* to fall for every fraud.

Regards,
Martin Brown