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**Maggy** · 17-04-2006, 23:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anonymouse

Quote:

Originally Posted by Incognitas

Oh yeah I really trust this one.

I've had a few like that; I ignored them, and hey, guess what? My Barclaycard account is still alive and well. Big surprise.

If your Barclaycard account is disabled for whatever reason, there is of course a number on the card you can call to sort it out. It happened to me once; apparently if more than a certain number of transactions are made in a certain length of time, the account is automatically disabled as a precaution, on the assumption it may have been got at. I called them, they verified my identity (hey, look, no ID card but they managed it anyway!) and went through each transaction to ensure it was me who actually made each one. After that, they just re-enabled it, no problemo...and from then on, I made sure to limit the number of transactions in a week.

But they would not do this anonymously, i.e. over the Internet - only if the cardholder contacts them directly will the account be re-enabled. You can't even ask your local branch to do it, or rather you can ask but they can't do it; you have to ring Barclaycard.

Some of the emails do give the correct email address for Barclay's ibank site...but I'm willing to bet that's not where it actually takes you. Doubtless anyone who's never coded HTML might not be aware that a hyperlink and its tag don't necessarily have to read the same, and that's how some of them fall for it. For me, though, it's always the subtle errors in phraseology and/or grammar that give away the fact that English isn't the first language of whoever sent the email. Having studied English at AEB level (similar to GCE, but harder) does come in handy sometimes.

I've asked at my local branch about Barclays' email policy. Here it is: they do not, EVER, send unsolicited email to any customer, even if you have sent them an email, such as a service inquiry. They're far, far more likely to call you and/or use snail mail. If you get an email claiming to be from Barclays, it isn't. END OF STORY.

I don't doubt the same is true of the other large banks; they obviously have a vested interest in helping their customers avoid getting phished. General rule: delete any email claiming to be from any bank, whether you bank with them or not - and do not, EVER, reply to them; all that'll do is confirm a valid email address, and then you're stuffed.

I know.I was just showing the latest example.I've forwarded it to the addy that the REAL Barclays site provides.