BUSTED – By My Bank!
No, no, no, don’t worry. It wasn’t a scam type situation, nor did I lose any money. It’s more of a funny/scary situation really. Are “THEY” are watching us!!?? The other day I attempted to log into my bank’s website to download my monthly statement. “Incorrect password”. I tried again and used the “view password” option. It was correct – submit. “Incorrect password”. This wouldn’t have been the first time a website changed their password requirements and didn’t tell me, so OK, FINE – “Forgot password”.
The email came, then I did the usual 2-step authentication, and got to the “Create New Password” page. I just entered the old one. “Unknown error”. SHIT! I created a new one and entered it. “Unknown error”. DOUBLE SHIT!!
I called the bank.
Agent: Please provide the name, street address, city, state and ZIP code, related to the account.
Me: Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah (Meaning I complied with the request.)
Agent: Last six digits of Social Security number of account holder?
Me: WHAT, SIX??!! Everyone always only asks for last four.
Agent: YES, and that is why we’re now asking for six. We take the security of your account quite seriously!
Me: Let me think...OK – try this.
Agent: That worked. I’m going to send a text to the phone number on file for the account. When you get it read me the code please.
Me: OMG! After which I read him the code.
Agent: OK, we’re done with that now, and I do see a successful log-in about 17 minutes ago. Edge browser, Windows 11.
Me: Yeah, that’s about the right time, but the log-in was NOT successful.
Agent: OK, well I see where Edge was doing an update right at that point, so maybe that impacted you. Try this. Close ALL the browser tabs, re-open one, and try logging in again.
Me: Which password?
Agent: The old original one.
Me: Hold on. Yeah OK, that worked. Thanks.
Rightly or wrongly, foolishly or not, I had several other tabs open on my browser (including AFF and my local newspaper) when attempting to log-in the bank’s website. I’d done this numerous times before without having problems. But just the way the agent emphasized closing “ALL” browser tabs before trying to log-in again leads me to suspect they have some new security protocols that prevent log-ins when multiple browser tabs are in play.
Have you ever heard of a security thing like that?
Do you log-in the your bank’s website with other tabs open?
Have you ever been asked for the last SIX digits of your SSN?
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10 comments
No, yes, no.
These days I usually use the bank app on my phone (which gets me in with Face ID) rather than logging in on the web.
NO WAY am I doing banking on my phone!!
@CleavageFan4U why not? I wouldn't do it on a public wifi of course, but aside from that I don't see where it's any less secure than using a PC.
@smartasswoman Gut feeling about the opportunity to lose it and what smart person might find it and put it to bad use. Not gonna lose my PC!
@CleavageFan4U OK, you have to follow your gut.
I'm curious what you do when you're on a long trip?
@smartasswoman Not a damn thing. Look ahead before leaving and make sure all the credit cards are in the cue to be paid. And all the utilities are on auto-pay.
That is a LOT of security!! LOL
I always have multiple tabs open when I log in to the bank. I am a multi tasker.
Never asked for just the last 6.
Just remember the multi-tabs thing if your log-in fails some day.
So far, my bank hasn't been giving me any problems when I have multiple tabs open.
Well now you know to be on the lookout for such an issue.
I'm not a multi-tabber.
I guess I have to not be one too, in certain circumstances.
I use Firefox on a computer running Linux OS, and the whole history is cleared every time I close Firefox.
When I log in to my bank account, no other tab is open.
Good tips.
@CleavageFan4U Just forgot to mention - sorry - that AFF is open in another browser, Chromium (= Chrome for Linux), just to handle things separately.
Good luck, just remember Micro$oft is spying on you & your computer...
My university was able to check websites I was browsing if the university's website was also open. Big Brother!
I could very well see that if you were there, on their connection.
@CleavageFan4U I was forewarned by an IT guy about this. No more AFF at work. I guess it's spyware at work.