Bank customers beware

Nothing to do with the elections but due to my pathological hatred of fraudsters I felt I had to mention this scam. Apparently folk phoning their bank have had their calls diverted by scammers who get their details and then plunder their accounts. Thieving **** - I really have no time for these people. They think their crime doesn't affect anyone because the account holder will likely get it back from the banks' insurance. But that's hardly the point. You don't get it back right away, in fact it can take a good number of months. Besides, what does it do to that individual victim of the crime to know that another human being would do that to them? It's something most of us find abhorrent, the idea of stealing someone else's belongings and when it happens to you, it may not be personal but it certainly feels it.

Imagine you're an elderly woman living alone like the 78 year old who was duped by these guys. I imagine that poor woman is now feeling very insecure and possibly unsafe in her own home. It's the invasion of privacy, the idea that someone could be so unfeeling and the conclusion she will no doubt have reached that you just can't trust anyone these days. The fact that she's wrong and that you can trust the vast majority of people is almost irrelevant here (as is the fact that in the end, the bank intervened and the tea leaf didn't get his hands on her money) - her perception is what affects how she's feeling right now. She's probably worked really hard all her life and gone without things to make sure she's secure in her retirement and along comes somebody who somehow thinks it's acceptable to help himself to the security she earned for herself probably long before he was born.

I could rant about this for a very long time. Just please, DON'T let it happen to you, to your mother or father, to anyone - spread the word. Read the article and take the advice and be very very careful about what you tell people on the phone.