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Scammers really have stepped up their game in recent years. I keep getting spam emails that say "we have your data, click here to see the list..." Of course, t

Scammers really have stepped up their game in recent years. I keep getting spam emails that say "we have your data, click here to see the list..." Of course, the link wants to authorize against my (nonexistent) gmail. Nice try. The people I feel bad for are the elderly: I know two that have been taken in by these things. They really aren't mentally equipped for the complexities of the modern Internet.

tialaramex 5y ago
Lots of scams want your bank details. Unlike with SMS 2FA where the phone company never offered their service as a magic universal authenticator, the scammers want your bank account because it's a bank account. To the extent such scams work, we should be pretty unequivocal that it is your bank's fault. Banks are always reluctant to put their hands in their pockets when it comes to meaningful security. Whereas merchants and customers must upgrade to satisfy PCI DSS rules the banks gave themselves an unlimited free pass to just do whatever they wanted under PCI DSS because hey, those upgrades look expensive, we'd rather not bother. My good bank actually has security. I'm fairly confident that I couldn't sleepwalk into giving bad guys access to the funds in that account by whatever means. I have a physical authenticator device to get into their online banking site, for example, so your scam would need to persuade me that I need to go get the authenticator and use that to sign in, all more chances for me to realise it's a scam. But I have two other bank accounts, which both still think passwords are a pretty good level of security in 2021. One of them even lets me sign in using a numeric PIN, presumably they feel they've done enough to protect against brute force and so this is fine.
- JadeNB 5y ago
  > My good bank actually has security. Would you be willing to make a recommendation?
  - tialaramex 5y ago
    First Direct However I live in the United Kingdom, so this recommendation won't be much use to people who live elsewhere. My recommendation certainly does not stretch to their parent, HSBC, once the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation which likely does operate other banks where you live.
- TheFreim 5y ago
  My bank thinks banning right click on their site and disabling default inspect element is security. I'm sure making it annoying for me to copy the routing numbers is really going to help out.
  - aeorgnoieang 5y ago
    That's weird. I'm pretty sure routing numbers (the bank portion) in the U.S. are all public anyways. I've been routinely looking-up my bank's routing number via Google for a while!
    - TheFreim 5y ago
      They are public, it's just that the easiest way to copy it is to go to the banks website.
fodmap 5y ago
>Scammers really have stepped up their game Here's an innovative one. I got an sms impersonating my cell phone provider telling me they're going to change my plan. They'd decided which one is the best for me but I have until next month to chose one 'of the new plans' clicking on a bit.ly link. That links points to an Amazon affiliated link, and it's totally unrelated to my provider.
- daniellarusso 5y ago
  That is pretty decent for an affiliate scam.
  - fodmap 5y ago
    Yeah imagine what a wonderful world we'd have if all that scammer creativity were put to work for a good cause.

tialaramex 5y ago

Lots of scams want your bank details. Unlike with SMS 2FA where the phone company never offered their service as a magic universal authenticator, the scammers want your bank account because it's a bank account. To the extent such scams work, we should be pretty unequivocal that it is your bank's fault. Banks are always reluctant to put their hands in their pockets when it comes to meaningful security. Whereas merchants and customers must upgrade to satisfy PCI DSS rules the banks gave themselves an unlimited free pass to just do whatever they wanted under PCI DSS because hey, those upgrades look expensive, we'd rather not bother. My good bank actually has security. I'm fairly confident that I couldn't sleepwalk into giving bad guys access to the funds in that account by whatever means. I have a physical authenticator device to get into their online banking site, for example, so your scam would need to persuade me that I need to go get the authenticator and use that to sign in, all more chances for me to realise it's a scam. But I have two other bank accounts, which both still think passwords are a pretty good level of security in 2021. One of them even lets me sign in using a numeric PIN, presumably they feel they've done enough to protect against brute force and so this is fine.

JadeNB 5y ago
> My good bank actually has security. Would you be willing to make a recommendation?
- tialaramex 5y ago
  First Direct However I live in the United Kingdom, so this recommendation won't be much use to people who live elsewhere. My recommendation certainly does not stretch to their parent, HSBC, once the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation which likely does operate other banks where you live.
TheFreim 5y ago
My bank thinks banning right click on their site and disabling default inspect element is security. I'm sure making it annoying for me to copy the routing numbers is really going to help out.
- aeorgnoieang 5y ago
  That's weird. I'm pretty sure routing numbers (the bank portion) in the U.S. are all public anyways. I've been routinely looking-up my bank's routing number via Google for a while!
  - TheFreim 5y ago
    They are public, it's just that the easiest way to copy it is to go to the banks website.

fodmap 5y ago

>Scammers really have stepped up their game Here's an innovative one. I got an sms impersonating my cell phone provider telling me they're going to change my plan. They'd decided which one is the best for me but I have until next month to chose one 'of the new plans' clicking on a bit.ly link. That links points to an Amazon affiliated link, and it's totally unrelated to my provider.

daniellarusso 5y ago
That is pretty decent for an affiliate scam.
- fodmap 5y ago
  Yeah imagine what a wonderful world we'd have if all that scammer creativity were put to work for a good cause.