Identity give-away

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Bob Frankston" <Bob19-0501 () bobf frankston com>
Date: November 4, 2009 10:34:16 PM EST
To: "Prof. David J. J Farber" <dave () farber net>
Subject: Identity give-away

It started when I noticed two suspicious transactions on my account  
(with Bank of America, nee Bank of Italy).

MVQ*IDENTITYCHECK24 800-307-4564 CT $29.95
MVQ*CREDITSCORE24   800-316-8824 CT $29.95

I know that those services you see advertised as “free credit check”  
are sleazy and even the feds seem to have had enough of them. It made  
me angry enough to claw my way through the Bank of America fraud  
lines. After finally reaching the fifth person who tried to foist me  
off to someone else via an IVR system that required endless digits I  
had enough and just called the support line and finally got someone to  
assist me.

(As an aside, my smart phone, a MotoBlur at the moment, needs far  
better support for entering such information. After a few digits I’m  
typing blind and the screen keeps shutting off.)

It turned out that I had been getting such charges since August but  
they got lost amidst other transactions as the debit cards have become  
used for so many transactions. Of course the first person spoke to  
told me to contact dial the 800# on the transactions but I refused as  
I had no relationship with them. Finally I did get someone who offered  
to deal with it by canceling the debit card. I was concerned with the  
inconvenience until I found out that it was a card I had never used!  
With multiple accounts the cards arrive and I only activate the ones I  
actually use. This one had been issued in July 2006 and not used till  
August 2008. It turns out there’s also a charge for Charter  
Communications – a cable provider that I have never done business with.

The problem is that none of the statements I receive tell me which  
card is being used.

This is why I call it “give-away”. If the banks were serious about  
identity theft why don’t they provide me with information I can use to  
monitor and manage the transactions. I’m acutely aware of the issue of  
handling a myriad of small transactions since that was the topic of my  
Master’s Thesis back in 1974! For that matter why do they issue the  
same number on my card and my wife’s card. This is one reason I use  
American Express – they seem to be more competent and provide more  
tracking and detailed information. Amex is also far more willing to  
work with me than against me though they have their limits too.

I do my own management of the account data which enabled me to quickly  
look at the transactions using my own database but without such  
information it’s hard to detect fraud. The banks seem very happy to  
blame the customer for “theft” of their “identity” but seem to take no  
responsibility. You’d think they would want to solve such problems. In  
this case the transaction with Charter should help them immediately  
identify the person who used the card but I’d be surprised if they  
actually go through the effort to track down the fraud and identify  
the thieves (they didn’t steal my identity just my money). I could  
call Charter but I don’t even know the card number – I was only told  
the last five digits. I guess I could call BofA back but there’s  
little I could do with the information. Without that how could charter  
even track down the particular transaction? Same for calling the 800#  
for the other transactions. Perhaps if there were a useful transaction  
ID but such concepts are beyond the current financial world.

At one point they asked me where the account was opened. How am I  
supposed to remember where my (not yet) wife was in 1976 when she  
first opened that account. This was a real problem when I was in  
Istanbul and BofA decided I shouldn’t be using my card there. All the  
verification information was stuff I would have only if I were back  
home and remember where people where thirty or forty years ago. There  
was no attempt to work with me. Fortunately the business-office person  
at my hotel was able to scan in the documents they wanted and email  
them to me – I was impressed that she had the skills fully use the  
scanner’s capabilities. Fortunately my wife was home and able to spend  
time on the phone until they were again ready to let me withdraw cash.

Now I have to await paper mail documents and affidavits so they can  
treat the transactions as fraudulent.

It doesn’t help that all this is done on paper or over the phone. I  
can’t even report the fraudulent transactions online. It seems as if  
the system is purposeful setup to prevent reporting while denying me  
the information I need to protect myself.

So let’s not accept the blame for identity theft – at least not until  
the banks stop acting as enablers for such theft and stop treating  
their customers with such contempt.

PS: The interaction was a reminder of the high price we pay for  
telecom. Why was my call voice-only? Given I have a computing device  
why can’t I enter the information on the screen using forms as part of  
the interaction rather than having to force everything through a voice  
path? And why doesn’t the conversation have a transaction identifier  
so it all doesn’t fall apart if I get disconnected. At least airline  
systems can leave notes in the record for when I call back – can banks  
do that? They can’t even pass off the transaction from one person to  
another without having me reenter the information. Again this is part  
of my larger vision for Ambient Connectivity when we move beyond the  
simplistic idea of the web and low level connections. Instead it’s  
about relationships and these transactions involve various  
relationships that can persist rather than having each interaction  
start from scratch. We live in such ancient times.





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