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In a story carried by IDG this morning, the bank says it "was planning to contact online customers directly".

Err.. exactly when would that be then?

It's not as if all Net users are savvy to this type of fraud -- the bank admits that over 100 of its customers have been duped already. Doubtless there will be many more before the bank finally asks the tea-lady to tap out a note on her trolley-PC and fire it off to all those still at risk.

Sure, the bank poped a little note on the login page -- but that's hardly enough is it? Obviously not, since there's those 100 customers who simply clicked on the URL in the email and handed over their ID and password.

Let's be charitable for a moment though -- maybe the bank was caught unawares and it's only natural that it will take some time to sort out a suitable piece of bulk-mailing software then get the list of customer email addresses together, right?

Rubbish!

Westpac have known for ages that it was only a matter of time before this type of fraud was perpetrated here in NZ. Way back in August their Australian customers were subjected to an almost identical scam, so why wasn't Westpac NZ all primed and ready to respond to such a scam here?

In fact, one must ask why (to the best of my knowledge) none of the local banks have seen fit to pre-emptively warn their customers that such scams exist and could compromise the integrity of their login details?

Is it a case of the banks simply being unwilling to scare their customers away from online banking?

If so, then that's extremely bad form -- if not then it shows that the management of our banks really have little concern for the safety of their customers' money and don't deserve to be entrusted with it.

I find it amusing, but deeply worrying, that Westpac recently sent customers a thick, glossy magazine containing much detail about the property market and why they should borrow from the bank to invest -- but can't even be bothered to warn them about an inevitable email scam.

While I've been strongly critical of Westpac's inaction over this matter, some have suggested that they don't need to email customers and warn them of the scam because it's now all over the media. Do you really think that will reach all those who need to know?

If you do then I ask you to cast your mind back to the very high profile case of a Citybank manager here in NZ who got taken for a ride by the 419 Nigerian scam. In fact he ended up getting his backside haulled through the courts and thrown in jail as a result. This was all over the media -- but now we're told that Kiwis are *still* being taken in by the 419 scam, so I don't think we can assume that just because it's on TV and in the paper that everyone will know about it.

Perhaps that incident also says something about the attitude that managers of some of our banks have to dealing with scams.

Have you received advice from your bank to beware of such email scams? If so, did that warning arrive before Monday or was it only in response to the Westpac fiasco?

How Dumb Is This?
I found this story from IDG to be somewhat amusing today.

Why?

Well read this story from yesterday's NZ Herald and perhaps you'll understand.

Would *you* spend a whopping $1,500 on a BCL-based wireless internet solution when they've just finished telling everyone that they may have to abandon their multi-million-dollar move into the telecoms industry?

Duh!

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