THIS TIME IT'S PERSONAL

Posted on 21 Jan 2005 at 17:14

OUT FOR THE ACCOUNT

Shopper reader Cliff Deamer has been led a song and dance through the apparent misuse of his personal information. A letter arrived one morning in a plain white envelope with a return address of a PO Box in Brackley. This apparent junk mail actually contained a red payment reminder for £16.92 relating to a Tiscali internet account. Cliff has never used Tiscali so he called the phone number listed on the letter. Before the company would deal with him he had to read out the letter's reference, his name, full address and telephone number. He was also asked for his credit card number, which he flatly refused to give.

Cliff was advised that the account couldn't be closed because the matter had already been referred to a debt collection agency. He then managed to speak to someone else, who required exactly the same information, including the credit card number. Again the card number was not given. Cliff was advised that the account had been activated in July 2004 and that its details perfectly matched those just read out - which was hardly surprising seeing as he had already revealed that information.

He was told that the charge related to August, and that September and October were also outstanding and November would soon be due. It was again confirmed that the account couldn't be closed because of the outstanding fees. The only good news at this stage was that the last four digits of the credit card on the account did not match those of Cliff's card. He was advised to call the customer care team.

Cliff had already been on the phone for nearly an hour, and as he was calling 0870 numbers he was paying the full national rate. When a customer care operative answered, they asked for the same personal information again, including the credit card number. This person said that Cliff could cancel the account and advised him to phone the first number he had called in 15 minutes.

The person answering that number could now delete the account. Cliff asked for written confirmation of this and was still waiting at the time of writing. This shows how a few pieces of basic information can be misused. It is not clear what was going on, but Cliff's details may have been used against a stolen credit card to pay for a broadband internet service.

KEEP IT PERSONAL

A key lesson here is to make sure a story does not gain credibility simply from information you have passed to the other party. That confirms nothing at all. Cliff realised this and sensibly withheld his credit card details. Never give your name and address to anyone who cold-calls you, and take care how you dispose of documents containing this information.

I once had a call from someone claiming to be from the local chamber of commerce. He asked for my address. When I asked him why, he said it was to enable him to send me some relevant information. Naturally I told him to take a running jump.

Businesses must also tighten their procedures. I was alarmed in the early days of BTOpenworld that support staff actually read out my password to me. I also get agitated by companies that remind me of my username and password by including them in every unprotected plain text email they send. Until firms start to guard their customers' personal details with greater care, they cannot expect users to do so and security will continue to be compromised.

Author: Matthew Holbrook

1 2