Big business still clueless about identity theft

Telephone call:

Hello - I’m a total stranger - what’s your home address, post code and date of birth?

Ask what the phone call is about:

I’m sorry, we can’t give that information out.

Yes, this is the way that some businesses contact their customers.

I first got these from my old friend, British Telecom.

If you don’t pay your phone bill straight away, someone from their Indian call centers will call, asking for your personal details.

I honestly thought it was a scam at first - but, no, I’ve had a couple of these calls from BT. They’re legit.

And now HSBC bank rang just a moment ago, following the same method.

What’s even more annoying is their refusal to tell me what the call is about. I have no idea whether it’s an unsolicited “special offer” or whether it’s a value call about something I’ve asked about.

All I requested previously was information on a different type of bank account. The HSBC shouldn’t need my personally identifying information just to tell me about that.

And I shouldn’t be the one asked to jump through hoops just so they can upsell their services to me.

The real problem, though, is that there’s no guarantee that the caller at the other end says they are who they claim to be.

Two words: identity theft.

I know there are bogus callers out there who ask for your personal details - it begins with a name, and eventially moves onto your banking details.

It can only be made easier to carry out such scams if businesses insist on making their consumers used to providing personal information to strangers on the phone.

They say that people are dumb. So are some businesses.