Service of Fraud
February 9th, 2023
Categories: Fraud, Pilfering, Scams, Theft
We try to protect ourselves from robocallers up to no good, social media intruders dressed as legitimate businesses or fun game producers and sleazes who mail intimidating missives on recognizable letterheads with bogus warnings and phone numbers that ring on the desks of crooks.
I chatted with the manager of my local CVS drugstore yesterday as he released a mundane product, safe behind a locked plastic door, protected from shoplifters. A man in his 40s, he said that retail life is so different now. Most of his products in midtown Manhattan are not similarly protected. In the Wall Street area, I ducked into a Duane Reade drugstore early this week and was taken aback: Over half of the goods, even toothpaste, were behind locked plastic doors.
In addition to having to be on alert 24/7 as never before, how else do potential intruders, big and small, impact the lives of Jane and Joe citizen? Here’s an example. Try to close or transfer a financial account. I thought that armed with my call–from a phone number that’s in the system–my birthdate, the last four digits of my social security number and my account number I could expect a check. Ha! In one instance I needed to download and fill out a confusing form and write a letter and get my signatures on both notarized. I had to re-do the process because I’d left off an account number in one of several places. [They couldn’t have filled it in?] In another instance I needed to get a medallion signature that wasn’t easy to come by.
I was told all of this is to help prevent fraud. My mind jumped to the bigtime thieves who are given mega loans based on lies and unvetted information or who wreak havoc, and substantial losses, for banks whose gatekeepers fall for their supposedly deep–actually shallow–pockets. Reminded me of a friend who was audited the year she took a breather from work and, with a pittance of income, was nonetheless audited by the IRS.
We want our small pickings to be protected from fraud which the rigamarole is meant to do. Do you think that those with larceny in their hearts have to go through similar exercises to access other people’s money?
Image by bgs_digital_creator from Pixabay
Tags: CVS, Duane Reade
This business of protection from fraud is a joke. When I asked a teller why I was required to present my driver’s license in order to make a payment on their credit card, the reply was for my protection –and you guessed it, from fraud! I said I would be delighted to have strangers pay off my card. The remark drew a chuckle, but the requirement that I be protected wasn’t rescinded.
There may be an effective way to curb, or even abolish fraud, but such foolishness won’t hack it.
Lucrezia,
I think that many of the precautions taken are more to protect the financial institution and not the customer.