Black cloud still hovering over me and dare me to smile?
Received a recorded message from a 1-877 number on the 18th advising that my debit card may be at risk and asked me to call them. I being skeptical, called my branch and checked if that was a scam or not. Ended up I have been a victim of identity theft and someone did transfer money from my bank account to a third party through online banking. I still do not quite understand how could that happen without my authorization but explanation from the bank is online banking does allow e-transfer to any party as long as you or anyone logs in with your correct password. It never occurs to me online banking is so insecure and unsafe until bad things happened.
Spent half a day at the banks yesterday to clean up the mess and still yet to contact other entities to inform them of the change of my bank account information. To all my friends who are into online banking and will never perform online money transfer to a third party, it is recommended to do the following (depending on the practice of your bank):
a. Disable e-transfer to third party feature; or
b. Set the third party transfer limits to $0.00
c. Install anti-virus software
d. Be skeptical when being asked for your answer to a security question when logging into your bank account if it is not a normal procedure.
"Retro" has been back for a while, such as retro art, retro-gaming, retro fashion, retro jersey... Maybe it is time for retro banking and retro trading. Go "Paper", not "Less"; start writing checks than e-bill payments; go to the bank to do internal account transfers. Or consider going back to barter exchange. What about getting my hair in exchange for a haircut service? Deal or no deal? I cannot continue further but just shaking my head... it is not going to work.
Save the best for last, the bank did manage to stop the transfer and reimburse the money to my account!!!
Afterthought: Maybe God wants me to start over with a new slate starting with new bank card and account numbers.
2 comments:
funny it happen to you too. it happen to my sister Karen last week, and Adam yesterday not bank account but credit card..
I never check my statement... but I think I should from no on..
Good to know I am not a sole victim!! You better be careful too as Raymond was also a victim a few months ago with RBC.
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