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> Companies and institutions who need information from people that could be used for identity theft really need to reach people in a way that they won't confuse

> Companies and institutions who need information from people that could be used for identity theft really need to reach people in a way that they won't confuse it for a scam. Yes! Occasionally I'll get a call from a company of which I'm a customer and they proceed to ask for PII before going on (usually medical companies). I reply by asking THEM to give me the info they have and I'll check if it's correct. Since some won't, I then ask them to prove who they say they are… as I can't tell them apart from a scam. Even though I know it's a broken process, I refuse to go along because this is something they need to fix. Many companies unknowingly participate in creating an environment of bad processes making a fertile ground for scammers. On a positive note, my banking institution sends me email notifications about stuff on my account, WITHOUT any links to their site. Yes, it takes a few extra clicks to get to their site but it stops the user conditionning to click on any link they see in an email that just happens to have a logo of the company with which they do business.

thecosas 8y ago
If they provide you PII that they have, that's just as bad since it could be someone else on the line. Ideally, they would give you a way to call back via the main bank/business phone number.
davchana 8y ago
Your way of asking them to give you information & you confirming is equally harmful. A scam running right now in India is when a customer gets a credit card from SBI Bank, somebody in the system sells this info (that they have got a SBI Credit card) & Name + Phone number. Few days later, customer gets a first call that We are calling from Rewards section of SBI, you are entitled for 20% discount card, we will not ask you credit card info, just confirm if you have SBI card? Customer said Yes? Scammers update their database. Few more days, again somebody calls, says You HAVE card from SBI, for rewards, just confirm if it is Visa or MasterCard? Some other time they don't even ask, they insist you HAVE Visa, if you says Yes, they benefit, if you say No, they say sorry, mistake in our system, we will correct it. They still got what they wanted. The moral is they build up the card info one bit at a time. The only way to tackle is to deny you have any card on every call you get as officially Bank never calls you for rewards.

thecosas 8y ago

If they provide you PII that they have, that's just as bad since it could be someone else on the line. Ideally, they would give you a way to call back via the main bank/business phone number.

davchana 8y ago

Your way of asking them to give you information & you confirming is equally harmful. A scam running right now in India is when a customer gets a credit card from SBI Bank, somebody in the system sells this info (that they have got a SBI Credit card) & Name + Phone number. Few days later, customer gets a first call that We are calling from Rewards section of SBI, you are entitled for 20% discount card, we will not ask you credit card info, just confirm if you have SBI card? Customer said Yes? Scammers update their database. Few more days, again somebody calls, says You HAVE card from SBI, for rewards, just confirm if it is Visa or MasterCard? Some other time they don't even ask, they insist you HAVE Visa, if you says Yes, they benefit, if you say No, they say sorry, mistake in our system, we will correct it. They still got what they wanted. The moral is they build up the card info one bit at a time. The only way to tackle is to deny you have any card on every call you get as officially Bank never calls you for rewards.