"If you were an interested observer, what advice would you give this user and the bank?"
Based on the above and my own experiences as the more I deal with banks, vendors, government, etc. over the last few years, I think his best bet is to store his money under the mattress and deal only with hard cash! ;-)
Elaborating on the under the mattress; rather than fiat money, backed and supported only by the promise of governments etc., sleep on one ounce silver rounds. Maybe a bit lumpy but one sleeps far better on something of real value. :-)
Gotcha. Bought five boxes of Canadian Maple Leaves from Monex 12 years ago. Buried somewhere now. I think it was Woody Allen who said one of his favorite fantasies was to jump into a vat of chilled Roosevelt dimes and roll around naked. That's never been on my bucket list.
Cybersecurity should be both an imperative and a protection. I have been repeating this to many friends and acquaintances for years, but it seems that sharing information is much more important than keeping it safe. It is incredible how difficult it is for users to understand how dangerous it can be to give out personal data.
I agrée, Michael. The fraudulent depend on that info to defraud someone, and if you deny them, maybe they will find another occupation after running out of people to cheat. Though AI will be a game changer here, I would build a software AI bot, that continually plugs into anti-cybercrime best practices, and is used by the elderly before they answer a single question of the fraudsters who call masquerading as authorized representatives. “Sure, I can share information, and am so happy you have called on your own to help me, but first I have a few questions I’d like you to answer…..”
And for 40+ years whether you have willingly given consent to share or not, NSA and their sister agencies have been batch recording EVERYTHING going through the wire and air waves. Everything, 100% of it. Yottabytes of it. And while they have algorithms to help them flag things for further scrutiny, they haven't the analysts to put an eyeball to everything. Anyone they want to know everything about is a keystroke away. Working on the periphery of these people I can tell you that they are loath to share data using the excuse "sources & methods", preferring instead to be archivist hoarding mega-data as a personal power trip and having an attitude of "I know things you don't and never will know...because I am cleared and you are 'unclean'". It's the world we live in. Be as secure and private as you can be.
I do agree with you. Disraeli used to say that usually the man who is most successful in life is the one who has the most information, and someone follows this white rabbit...
That must be a nightmare to anyone with poor vision. I know many a senior person with little to no understanding of tech matters, though here we do have senior computer clubs, helping out, and even banks will offer help to people at home.
Here in the U.S. the worst websites to sign up for and navigate once you get in after many tries are the government ones. Medicare, Tricare, Military Retired pay & allotments, Messaging to my Navy doctor, Express Scripts and Navy Hospital prescriptions, the IRS. Horrible experiences. I have an average computer literacy level for my age, 75. It is many times easier to navigate a civilian website than a government one and we know why. They have no profit motive. A civilian business will go under if they have poor customer service. A government entity won't. I include banks in the not-user-friendly group and to a lesser degree utilities like Power, Water and Cable bundles. I don't have a smart phone. Don't want one or need one. I pay for things with cash, check or credit card. Online, paying with a credit card is easy...those who have made it difficult go on my "Nope" list. But here is the deal. I am resistant to all forms of electronic finance. Call me paranoid if you want, but I think that .gov has a goal of eliminating all paper money and coinage and having all financial transactions electronic. They'll sell that as a customer convenience but I believe it is a darker method of control and can lead to social credit scores and freezing bank accounts by .gov to punish behaviors and thoughts they disapprove of. When cash and coin disappears, so does freedom.
Oh you’re absolutely right, even on a global scale. Government sites in general are not user friendly, there are some exceptions here, but few.
A friend of mine mentioned that her husband always has problems getting his US pension (he’s American but lives abroad with his wife). Sending forms to be completed in a fortnight when postal services take 3 weeks and more.
Stay away from electronic finance! Europe, or better the EU is going to force it on us all. 24/7 control… what does that remind you of? I hope you can maintain that freedom, sending blessings 🙏💙
"If you were an interested observer, what advice would you give this user and the bank?"
Based on the above and my own experiences as the more I deal with banks, vendors, government, etc. over the last few years, I think his best bet is to store his money under the mattress and deal only with hard cash! ;-)
Lol
Kindred spirit.
Elaborating on the under the mattress; rather than fiat money, backed and supported only by the promise of governments etc., sleep on one ounce silver rounds. Maybe a bit lumpy but one sleeps far better on something of real value. :-)
An extra pillow will help overcome the lumpiness, the loss of electronic money would mean sleepless nights
Gotcha. Bought five boxes of Canadian Maple Leaves from Monex 12 years ago. Buried somewhere now. I think it was Woody Allen who said one of his favorite fantasies was to jump into a vat of chilled Roosevelt dimes and roll around naked. That's never been on my bucket list.
Cybersecurity should be both an imperative and a protection. I have been repeating this to many friends and acquaintances for years, but it seems that sharing information is much more important than keeping it safe. It is incredible how difficult it is for users to understand how dangerous it can be to give out personal data.
I agrée, Michael. The fraudulent depend on that info to defraud someone, and if you deny them, maybe they will find another occupation after running out of people to cheat. Though AI will be a game changer here, I would build a software AI bot, that continually plugs into anti-cybercrime best practices, and is used by the elderly before they answer a single question of the fraudsters who call masquerading as authorized representatives. “Sure, I can share information, and am so happy you have called on your own to help me, but first I have a few questions I’d like you to answer…..”
And for 40+ years whether you have willingly given consent to share or not, NSA and their sister agencies have been batch recording EVERYTHING going through the wire and air waves. Everything, 100% of it. Yottabytes of it. And while they have algorithms to help them flag things for further scrutiny, they haven't the analysts to put an eyeball to everything. Anyone they want to know everything about is a keystroke away. Working on the periphery of these people I can tell you that they are loath to share data using the excuse "sources & methods", preferring instead to be archivist hoarding mega-data as a personal power trip and having an attitude of "I know things you don't and never will know...because I am cleared and you are 'unclean'". It's the world we live in. Be as secure and private as you can be.
Many companies today also capture the keystrokes of employees, especially now the workforce is remote as well. This was a good report on the extent of this tracking - https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/08/14/business/worker-productivity-tracking.html
I do agree with you. Disraeli used to say that usually the man who is most successful in life is the one who has the most information, and someone follows this white rabbit...
Sadly that is true
That must be a nightmare to anyone with poor vision. I know many a senior person with little to no understanding of tech matters, though here we do have senior computer clubs, helping out, and even banks will offer help to people at home.
Here in the U.S. the worst websites to sign up for and navigate once you get in after many tries are the government ones. Medicare, Tricare, Military Retired pay & allotments, Messaging to my Navy doctor, Express Scripts and Navy Hospital prescriptions, the IRS. Horrible experiences. I have an average computer literacy level for my age, 75. It is many times easier to navigate a civilian website than a government one and we know why. They have no profit motive. A civilian business will go under if they have poor customer service. A government entity won't. I include banks in the not-user-friendly group and to a lesser degree utilities like Power, Water and Cable bundles. I don't have a smart phone. Don't want one or need one. I pay for things with cash, check or credit card. Online, paying with a credit card is easy...those who have made it difficult go on my "Nope" list. But here is the deal. I am resistant to all forms of electronic finance. Call me paranoid if you want, but I think that .gov has a goal of eliminating all paper money and coinage and having all financial transactions electronic. They'll sell that as a customer convenience but I believe it is a darker method of control and can lead to social credit scores and freezing bank accounts by .gov to punish behaviors and thoughts they disapprove of. When cash and coin disappears, so does freedom.
You Sir, as Navy veteran, have my deepest respect. Maritime family myself.
Oh you’re absolutely right, even on a global scale. Government sites in general are not user friendly, there are some exceptions here, but few.
A friend of mine mentioned that her husband always has problems getting his US pension (he’s American but lives abroad with his wife). Sending forms to be completed in a fortnight when postal services take 3 weeks and more.
Stay away from electronic finance! Europe, or better the EU is going to force it on us all. 24/7 control… what does that remind you of? I hope you can maintain that freedom, sending blessings 🙏💙
This is why I like to do surveys sent from businesses, including my bank. I always give " helpful hints" for updates they can do to help customers.
That’s pretty good way to also share best practices, thanks, Catherine, for sharing.
In general, large corporate monopolies that pay no taxes, make obscene profits, and offer crappy customer service...piss me off!🤤