WHERE IS BIFF VERNON?

[skier-hughes]

(P.S. A very nice lady called Alison rang me this afternoon to ask for my bank account details, and I had thought I was doing it self-sacrificially, for the greater good.)

Only to find you on Monday you have an overdraft of £25k, as she's cleared your account and more!!!!

 

[biffvernon]

It doesn't really work like that Graham. My bank account number and sort code are in the public domain - it's printed on every cheque I give to people and the numbers are only useful to folk who want to pay me money. 089286 04255990 in case you want to make use of the facility

 

[skier-hughes]

Just a little jest :wink:

 

[Penners]

One bit they missed concerned the necessity to start on a Friday since the E7 from Baldock to Sandy only runs on a Friday. The 566 from St.Neots to Huntingdon does not run on Saturday or Sunday so one gets an enforced weekend stop at St.Neots.

...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

 

[biffvernon]

I'm just wondering if the fee will be enough to pay for a new anorak.

 

[Nemesis]

If you are short I'm sure I will have a spare.

 

[biffvernon]

No, I'm tall. Yours won't fit but thanks for the offer.

 

[Penners]

Is this what they call "repartee"?

 

[Nemesis]

It's what we anoraks types call repartee.

 

[worms]

It doesn't really work like that Graham. My bank account number and sort code are in the public domain - it's printed on every cheque I give to people and the numbers are only useful to folk who want to pay me money.

I think we have touched on this before, but just be careful - I have twice had my bank account hit using no more information than is available on the cheque! The first time the bank was terribly helpful and followed "my" instructions to allow a nice gentleman to walk into a bank in London and, on presentation of his Nigerian passport, pay him £5,000 in cash. The second time I was given the opportunity to confirm that I wanted to buy an outboard motor from Italy and have it delivered to Nigeria!

 

[Nemesis]

And Jeremy Clarkson found he was hit after revealing his details in a newspaper:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7174760.stm


Some nice person in December helped themselves to a couple of thousand quidsworth of computer equipment from my VISA account. Yes the bank refunded it, but I would rather it hadn't happened.

Last Updated: Monday, 7 January 2008, 11:56 GMT

Clarkson stung after bank prank

Jeremy Clarkson found himself unexpectedly donating to charity
TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson has lost money after publishing his bank details in his newspaper column.
The Top Gear host revealed his account numbers after rubbishing the furore over the loss of 25 million people's personal details on two computer discs.

He wanted to prove the story was a fuss about nothing.

But Clarkson admitted he was "wrong" after he discovered a reader had used the details to create a £500 direct debit to the charity Diabetes UK.

I was wrong and I have been punished

Jeremy Clarkson
Clarkson published details of his Barclays account in the Sun newspaper, including his account number and sort code. He even told people how to find out his address.

"All you'll be able to do with them is put money into my account. Not take it out. Honestly, I've never known such a palaver about nothing," he told readers.

But he was proved wrong, as the 47-year-old wrote in his Sunday Times column.

"I opened my bank statement this morning to find out that someone has set up a direct debit which automatically takes £500 from my account," he said.

"The bank cannot find out who did this because of the Data Protection Act and they cannot stop it from happening again.

"I was wrong and I have been punished for my mistake."

Police were called in to search for the two discs, which contained the entire database of child benefit claimants and apparently got lost in the post in October 2007.

They were posted from HM Revenue and Customs offices in Tyne and Wear, but never turned up at their destination - the National Audit Office.

The loss, which led to an apology from Prime Minister Gordon Brown, created fears of identity fraud.

Clarkson now says of the case: "Contrary to what I said at the time, we must go after the idiots who lost the discs and stick cocktail sticks in their eyes until they beg for mercy."

 

[Lime]

It doesn't really work like that Graham. My bank account number and sort code are in the public domain - it's printed on every cheque I give to people and the numbers are only useful to folk who want to pay me money.

I think we have touched on this before, but just be careful - I have twice had my bank account hit using no more information than is available on the cheque! The first time the bank was terribly helpful and followed "my" instructions to allow a nice gentleman to walk into a bank in London and, on presentation of his Nigerian passport, pay him £5,000 in cash. The second time I was given the opportunity to confirm that I wanted to buy an outboard motor from Italy and have it delivered to Nigeria!

Quite.

It does work like that.

Banks are often stuck between a rock and a hard place with customer demands.
The account number and sort code give a recipient your personal bank details and it then depends on the relationship created between the bank and recipient as to whether or not they can remove all your cash.

 

[biffvernon]

LOL. Come on, name and shame that bank. :lol:

 

[worms]

In my case it was the Clydesdale Bank. Although the bank in London that actually released the cash must have been something else (the Clydesdale not being exactly on every street corner in the South!) Hopefully the very mention of cash and Nigeria might mean more to the banking system nowadays and faxed instructions might ring a few alarm bells, but I still wouldn't want to be too trusting!

I've also once had my Credit Card swiped twice by Barclays (Kenya). As a senior banking official once said to me "Why should you expect bank staff to be any more honest than everyone else?" ...where do you start?!

 

[Nemesis]

Well in my case, I hadn't spotted the first transaction, as it hadn't yet appeared on my printed statement, but the second my bank called me and asked if it was legit as it seemed a large sum and unusual as I had apparently just purchased a similar amount of stuff only the previous week.

They blocked the transaction instantly. The first they gave me my money back. I had a long conversation with the fraud dept, who assured me I seemed to be doing all the right things, but fraud was rife and at times it was employees of firms with whom I had dealt who 'harvested' details and sold them on!

Also - it seems that the firms selling the computer equipment had not carried out the appropriate checks.

I presume that a delivery address was provided - but I know no more, and I gather it happens so often that chasing up would cost more than the fraud.

I was also called fom the US by a chap who told me his wife had had purchases in my name from Napster on her statement, he had tracked down my details from Napster to warn me, that one was a bit weird...