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.

-- Regards
Bob Hobden
W.of London. UK

"Bob Hobden" wrote:

Perhaps it might be worth those who haven't got an account checking that
they actually haven't.

I prefer the Zen approach....what is the sound of no hands tweeting?


--
Gary Woods AKA K2AHC- PGP key on request, or at home.earthlink.net/~garygarlic
Zone 5/4 in upstate New York, 1420' elevation. NY WO G

"Bob Hobden" 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 ;-)

Tina

"Christina Websell" wrote ...


"Bob Hobden" wrote
Just found out I had a Twitter account, I didn't open it but it had 2
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.

Maybe, nothing of any import had happened so I can't understand why.

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 ;-)

You have a lot more faith than I. Looking at the situation the account may
have been opened automatically when I commented on a new article on Yahoo
but you have to tick a box for that to happen and I certainly have not, I'm
quite careful about such things.
Like my Facebook page I've closed it now anyway.

-- Regards
Bob Hobden
W.of London. UK

"Christina Websell" wrote in message
...

"Bob Hobden" 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 ;-)

Beg to differ, at least in the case of facebook. Anyone who knows your name
can open an account in your name. Facebook don't do checks, you want an
account, you got one.

Steve(not Steve, the other one, with a f/b account opened for me by my
niece)

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 particularly dislike unanswerable security questions on phone
banking/credit card transactions like name a road that connects to your
street. I answered "A19(T)" and they wouldn't accept that - it had to be
a named road! None of the local roads round here have had names in
living memory (though GPS systems do seem to have names for them).

I expect there are loads of "Martin Brown" twitter accounts. There were
12 of us globally on Compuserve in the very early days of the Internet
and there are a couple of thousand on LinkedIn today.

Regards,
Martin Brown

"Martin" wrote ...

"Bob Hobden" wrote:



"Christina Websell" wrote ...


"Bob Hobden" wrote
Just found out I had a Twitter account, I didn't open it but it had 2
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.

Maybe, nothing of any import had happened so I can't understand why.

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 ;-)

You have a lot more faith than I. Looking at the situation the account
may
have been opened automatically when I commented on a new article on Yahoo
but you have to tick a box for that to happen and I certainly have not,
I'm
quite careful about such things.
Like my Facebook page I've closed it now anyway.

If you checked that your Facebook paged was closed within 14 days of
closing it, it is still open.

I'd already heard about that so didn't check for a month. Twitter takes ages
to cancel too.

-- Regards
Bob Hobden
W.of London. UK

In article , Christina Websell
writes
you cannot discover you suddenly have an
account at Lloyds bank if you know you haven't


Oh what a shame especially if there was a nice balance in there
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

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.

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!

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.

"Janet Tweedy" wrote in message
...
In article , Christina Websell
writes
you cannot discover you suddenly have an
account at Lloyds bank if you know you haven't


Oh what a shame especially if there was a nice balance in there

Exactly!
If anyone opened a bank account in my name I would grab the money out of
there ;-) It would serve them right.

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

In article ,
Christina Websell wrote:

"Janet Tweedy" wrote in message
...
In article , Christina Websell
writes
you cannot discover you suddenly have an
account at Lloyds bank if you know you haven't


Oh what a shame especially if there was a nice balance in there

Exactly!
If anyone opened a bank account in my name I would grab the money out of
there ;-) It would serve them right.

People have been convicted of theft for doing just that!


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 04/08/2011 22:25, Christina Websell wrote:
"Janet wrote in message
...
In , Christina Websell
writes
you cannot discover you suddenly have an
account at Lloyds bank if you know you haven't

Oh what a shame especially if there was a nice balance in there

I did once "win" a Lloyds bank account with £3 in it. I expect every
other student who entered their competition did exactly the same.

Exactly!
If anyone opened a bank account in my name I would grab the money out of
there ;-) It would serve them right.

I have actually been in that position with the boot on the other foot. A
banking error merged my own account with someone elses!

Name collisions can cause serious trouble. In this instance there were
two distinct M T Browns banking at the same branch and when I moved to
another part of the country they helpfully merged all the assets and
both salaries into my account. The other person was left with nothing -
cards all cancelled and a big mess. Hazards of having a common name.

The main problem is when someone steals your identity and uses it to run
up large debts pointing at you and your home. Happened to an elderly
couple nearby and it is very disconcerting for them to be hassled by
persistent debt collectors and bailiffs.

Regards,
Martin Brown

"Martin" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 5 Aug 2011 09:57:09 +0100 (BST), wrote:

In article ,
Christina Websell wrote:

"Janet Tweedy" wrote in message
...
In article , Christina Websell
writes
you cannot discover you suddenly have an
account at Lloyds bank if you know you haven't


Oh what a shame especially if there was a nice balance in there

Exactly!
If anyone opened a bank account in my name I would grab the money out of
there ;-) It would serve them right.

People have been convicted of theft for doing just that!

A colleague had around £50K accidentally put in his account by the
Dutch tax people. He told them what they had done. It took them around
6 months before they retrieved the money. We wanted him to put the
money in a high interest savings account, but he didn't dare.
--

Martin


When I came out of the Civil Service and return to Industry, my Civil
Service Pension was frozen and they sent me a paper saying what the lump sum
and pension would be on reaching the age of 60, the Civil Service Pension
age then. "Notify us a couple of months before your 60th birthday"

Couple of months before birthday, forms come and are returned. Lump sum and
pension to be paid into bank after birthday.

Go to hole in wall and call up a statement. Ooooooooooooopppppppppsss
tooooooooooooooo much much much too much money paid in :-((

Back to the telephone.

:-)))))))))))

Lump Sum and Pension "Index Linked"

All mine :-))

Mike

--

....................................

Don't take life too seriously, you'll never get out alive.

....................................

In article , Martin
writes
What would you do if you found you had a very large overdraft in the
account?


panic
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk