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What riles me is when the Bank rings me and demands that I identify myself so they know it's me they are talking to. What's your full name? What's your date o

What riles me is when the Bank rings me and demands that I identify myself so they know it's me they are talking to. What's your full name? What's your date of birth? Etc. The Bank lady on the other end of the phone one day was most put out when I asked those same questions so that she should identify herself to me also. I would hang up and verify the phone number and then call them back if it checks out, or more usually I ring the Bank using my own version of the Bank's phone number and ask to speak to 'Charlene' or whoever it was.

ranger_danger 2y ago
I love it when telemarketers call so I can ask them what time they eat dinner, so I can call them back then.
- electric_mayhem 2y ago
  I don’t get telemarketer calls anymore. But when I used to, I turned it into an even more fun game that you described My goal was to waste as much of their time, and as little of mine, as possible. Hi, this is so-and-so from DIRECTV. We’re calling with a special offer…. Oh sweet! I’m so annoyed with my cable company That I let them get into their spiel A quick sec, I got a pot on the stove Disappear for 30s Oh hey, sorry, you were saying about 150 channels? Let them get going Ah, shit. Paperboy is at the door. Gimme a sec I’ll be right back, this sounds like an awesome deal And so on, with longer and longer gaps between each fake reason for disappearing, and more enthusiasm for his pitch each time I returned I remember the DIRECTV example in particular because I tied That dude up for over 40 minutes. Barely impeded my watching Farscape and kept him from harassing anyone else for the duration.
  - cynicalsecurity 2y ago
    You are a hero. We need a personally secretary app that would identify spam calls and keep them waiting forever, plying To Elise music in the background.
  - Wistar 2y ago
    One morning a few years ago as I was getting ready to get in the shower a spam call comes in to my landline. I don’t remember the exact bogosity but I think it was the ol’ your computer has a virus thing. When he asks for payment I say I will get my credit card but it is down in my car and will he wait? He agrees and damned if he wasn’t still waiting for me when I got out of the shower 20 minutes later.
  - yowzadave 2y ago
    Seems like something we could ask an AI assistant to do—just stall them endlessly until they go insane.
    - sen 2y ago
      It exists: https://apate.ai/ https://apate.ai/
    - Jerrrry 2y ago
      These were pre-recorded, then Markov, now full on API/VOIP services that offer these services free-of-charge.
    - miles 2y ago
      https://jollyrogertelephone.com/ https://jollyrogertelephone.com/
  - simonblack 2y ago
    My goal was to waste as much of their time, My personal best was 2 hours and 10 minutes before it was me that got sick of playing them. After that I put the "This Number Out of Service" tones (http://www.k3pgp.org/telezap.htm http://www.k3pgp.org/telezap.htm) on my answering message. That knocked out a lot of the spam diallers. Usually I don't answer any number that's not on my contacts list, and let them go to voice-mail. If they really need me, they'll leave a message.
    - rubslopes 2y ago
      I do that too. I even got an app that does this automatically. I just get a silent notification afterwards, it's great. It's very rare that I'm expecting a call from someone I don't know already, so there's no problem. Unfortunately, not everyone has this privilege -- people who work with sales, for instance.
  - yencabulator 2y ago
    May I suggest you upgrade to Lenny. https://lennytroll.com/ https://lennytroll.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rz2LQCm4ymY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rz2LQCm4ymY
askvictor 2y ago
Some banks in Australia (probably globally) use credit-card fraud prevention services. So say I buy something from overseas, for a large-ish value, that service will call me to verify it was me. And request the same identification etc. But it's not even the bank that is calling.
- kaliqt 2y ago
  That always happens with 2FA these days AFAIK.
- mavamaarten 2y ago
  This was such a massive headache for me while I was on the other side of the globe. I let my bank know in advance that I was going to travel to a specific country, and got a special gold credit card with all sorts of services. Yet after one day abroad, they blocked my card and needed me to call them and have them call me a couple of times to validate my identity and purchases. _During their office hours, meaning in the middle of the night for me_.
  - tgittos 2y ago
    I moved out of Australia and let my bank know that I would likely be using credit cards overseas for a while. Sure enough, as I was trying to buy furniture for my new place, the same thing happened to me. They blocked the card and when I called them they scolded me for not letting them know that I was traveling. I told the agent that I did in fact let them know, and asked them to update the account to note that I lived overseas. Some 5 years later I needed to use one of those accounts again. I diligently phoned the bank, let them know I lived overseas and that I was going to use the card. I used the card, the transaction was blocked, I called and was again scolded for not telling them that I went on holiday. I swear the 'notes' they add to your account are just an eye-roll and then a call disconnect.
darth_avocado 2y ago
This happened to me too. They called. They ask me for my personal info to verify me. I said I was uncomfortable, could they verify who they are. They said they can’t for security reasons for MY account. I refused to give out info. They hung up. Turns out, it WAS the bank. In 2023, I’d assume this should be figured out. Especially, since they send out like a 100 emails about “your bank will never call you and ask for your personal info”.
- yzydserd 2y ago
  Even more so in 2024.
- kmoser 2y ago
  I recently used a website to do something that required 2FA. They texted me a code, and the text included some wording to the effect of "we will never ask for this information!" The website then asked me to enter that information which they said they would never ask for. I knew enough to read between the lines, but on the surface it sure was confusing to be asked for something they said they would never ask for.
kristopolous 2y ago
Never reveal information to an incoming caller. It's such a simple rule. Even if they ask "hello is this so-and-so" just say "how can i help you" ... don't answer any information based question. zero of them. It doesn't have to be awkward or weird.
GauntletWizard 2y ago
I dropped Chase literally this weekend because of this. Their security questions were useless, and in one case, wrong - they had an estimate of how much I owed on my mortgage, that didn't take into account additional principal payments, so made me go through a second three rounds (either that, or the cs rep screwed up one of the address questions). About ten years ago (it was my top Google+ post, if that dates it for you) I emailed one of their emails to me to their fraud department, because it was so ridiculous, urgent calls to action, obfuscated links, no identifying information that only the bank would have known. They're fraud department thanked me for reporting this obviously fraudulent message, to which I replied that it wasn't fraudulent, to which they were flabbergasted.

ranger_danger 2y ago

I love it when telemarketers call so I can ask them what time they eat dinner, so I can call them back then.

electric_mayhem 2y ago
I don’t get telemarketer calls anymore. But when I used to, I turned it into an even more fun game that you described My goal was to waste as much of their time, and as little of mine, as possible. Hi, this is so-and-so from DIRECTV. We’re calling with a special offer…. Oh sweet! I’m so annoyed with my cable company That I let them get into their spiel A quick sec, I got a pot on the stove Disappear for 30s Oh hey, sorry, you were saying about 150 channels? Let them get going Ah, shit. Paperboy is at the door. Gimme a sec I’ll be right back, this sounds like an awesome deal And so on, with longer and longer gaps between each fake reason for disappearing, and more enthusiasm for his pitch each time I returned I remember the DIRECTV example in particular because I tied That dude up for over 40 minutes. Barely impeded my watching Farscape and kept him from harassing anyone else for the duration.
- cynicalsecurity 2y ago
  You are a hero. We need a personally secretary app that would identify spam calls and keep them waiting forever, plying To Elise music in the background.
- Wistar 2y ago
  One morning a few years ago as I was getting ready to get in the shower a spam call comes in to my landline. I don’t remember the exact bogosity but I think it was the ol’ your computer has a virus thing. When he asks for payment I say I will get my credit card but it is down in my car and will he wait? He agrees and damned if he wasn’t still waiting for me when I got out of the shower 20 minutes later.
- yowzadave 2y ago
  Seems like something we could ask an AI assistant to do—just stall them endlessly until they go insane.
  - sen 2y ago
    It exists: https://apate.ai/ https://apate.ai/
  - Jerrrry 2y ago
    These were pre-recorded, then Markov, now full on API/VOIP services that offer these services free-of-charge.
  - miles 2y ago
    https://jollyrogertelephone.com/ https://jollyrogertelephone.com/
- simonblack 2y ago
  My goal was to waste as much of their time, My personal best was 2 hours and 10 minutes before it was me that got sick of playing them. After that I put the "This Number Out of Service" tones (http://www.k3pgp.org/telezap.htm http://www.k3pgp.org/telezap.htm) on my answering message. That knocked out a lot of the spam diallers. Usually I don't answer any number that's not on my contacts list, and let them go to voice-mail. If they really need me, they'll leave a message.
  - rubslopes 2y ago
    I do that too. I even got an app that does this automatically. I just get a silent notification afterwards, it's great. It's very rare that I'm expecting a call from someone I don't know already, so there's no problem. Unfortunately, not everyone has this privilege -- people who work with sales, for instance.
- yencabulator 2y ago
  May I suggest you upgrade to Lenny. https://lennytroll.com/ https://lennytroll.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rz2LQCm4ymY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rz2LQCm4ymY

askvictor 2y ago

Some banks in Australia (probably globally) use credit-card fraud prevention services. So say I buy something from overseas, for a large-ish value, that service will call me to verify it was me. And request the same identification etc. But it's not even the bank that is calling.

kaliqt 2y ago
That always happens with 2FA these days AFAIK.
mavamaarten 2y ago
This was such a massive headache for me while I was on the other side of the globe. I let my bank know in advance that I was going to travel to a specific country, and got a special gold credit card with all sorts of services. Yet after one day abroad, they blocked my card and needed me to call them and have them call me a couple of times to validate my identity and purchases. _During their office hours, meaning in the middle of the night for me_.
- tgittos 2y ago
  I moved out of Australia and let my bank know that I would likely be using credit cards overseas for a while. Sure enough, as I was trying to buy furniture for my new place, the same thing happened to me. They blocked the card and when I called them they scolded me for not letting them know that I was traveling. I told the agent that I did in fact let them know, and asked them to update the account to note that I lived overseas. Some 5 years later I needed to use one of those accounts again. I diligently phoned the bank, let them know I lived overseas and that I was going to use the card. I used the card, the transaction was blocked, I called and was again scolded for not telling them that I went on holiday. I swear the 'notes' they add to your account are just an eye-roll and then a call disconnect.

darth_avocado 2y ago

This happened to me too. They called. They ask me for my personal info to verify me. I said I was uncomfortable, could they verify who they are. They said they can’t for security reasons for MY account. I refused to give out info. They hung up. Turns out, it WAS the bank. In 2023, I’d assume this should be figured out. Especially, since they send out like a 100 emails about “your bank will never call you and ask for your personal info”.

yzydserd 2y ago
Even more so in 2024.
kmoser 2y ago
I recently used a website to do something that required 2FA. They texted me a code, and the text included some wording to the effect of "we will never ask for this information!" The website then asked me to enter that information which they said they would never ask for. I knew enough to read between the lines, but on the surface it sure was confusing to be asked for something they said they would never ask for.

kristopolous 2y ago

Never reveal information to an incoming caller. It's such a simple rule. Even if they ask "hello is this so-and-so" just say "how can i help you" ... don't answer any information based question. zero of them. It doesn't have to be awkward or weird.

GauntletWizard 2y ago

I dropped Chase literally this weekend because of this. Their security questions were useless, and in one case, wrong - they had an estimate of how much I owed on my mortgage, that didn't take into account additional principal payments, so made me go through a second three rounds (either that, or the cs rep screwed up one of the address questions). About ten years ago (it was my top Google+ post, if that dates it for you) I emailed one of their emails to me to their fraud department, because it was so ridiculous, urgent calls to action, obfuscated links, no identifying information that only the bank would have known. They're fraud department thanked me for reporting this obviously fraudulent message, to which I replied that it wasn't fraudulent, to which they were flabbergasted.