BEWARE! THE BANKS ARE OUT TO GET YOU!

[Stanley]

Same here David. They sent me a letter the other day to tell me that even though I am not paying I still have a license and can use my iPlayer. I am addicted to BBC R4 and World Service.

[Stanley]

See THIS for what I see as an encouraging development. Joseph Stiglitz is one of a number of leading economists spearheading a new initiative to examine global trade and the present model of capitalism. I have just been listening to a man called Johnson being very sensible and explaining why they feel that there has to be a reassessment.

[Tizer]

About time too this happened - people have been at least 3 years.
`BrightHouse rent-to-own firm pays £14.8m in compensation' LINK
"The company said it had been working with the FCA since late 2014 after it acknowledged its assessments of customers' ability to pay and its collections processes did not always deliver good outcomes for customers, particularly those who were at a higher risk of falling into financial difficulty."

[Stanley]

I agree Tiz. Private Eye has been banging on about them for a long time. If I remember rightly the owner is a Tory Party Donor.

[Tizer]

Mrs Tiz moved some money online from a bond that was ending yesterday to a new bond in the same bank. It should have been showing in our account online this morning but it isn't. Looks like the bank has lost it!

[Stanley]

I hope she finds it! I saw that Lloyd's Bank has doubled its profits and reflected that austerity is worse for some than others..... There are a lot of people doing 'very nicely thank you' out of the sufferings of others. Same applies of course to the energy companies but they are better at concealing theirs....
Nye Bevan; "The commanding heights of the economy".

[Stanley]

See THIS for a BBC report into the BofE's warning that in worst case Brexit, 75,000 jobs could go in the financial sector. Now there's a surprise!
Isn't it funny how HSBC show a 480% increase in profits in a generally stagnant if not failing economy..... Another surprise. Trebles all round!

[Stanley]

THIS is worth a read. Not high profile yet but there is increasing disquiet among economic commentators as it seems that pressure is being applied to the exchanges to vary the rules and allow Saudi Aramco to list 5% of its worth for public investment. Not a lot but it is around $100billion! Your insurance funds may be invested in a very dodgy regime shortly.....

[Tizer]

The FT wouldn't let me access that page but I know that the Financial Conduct Authority has proposed that rules are changed simply to allow the Saudi Aramco offering to go ahead when, under present rules, it wouldn't be allowed. All so that we can carry on selling weapons to the Saudis.

[chinatyke]

An email letter received from HSBC in which they warn of poor grammar. Then include an error. [Highlighted by me.] Why can't people do their jobs properly?

What is phishing?

24 Oct 2017

To:
Gxxxx Mxxxx Lxxxxxx:
Something phishy

We understand the need to protect what's important to you. That's why we've teamed up with Get Safe Online to help protect you from online fraud.

Phishing is a type of fraud. It's where criminals send emails to trick you into clicking links, opening attachments or divulging information. These emails are designed to steal information, download viruses or stop your device from working correctly.

These fraudsters often find out information about you to make their emails look legitimate or like something that would interest you.

Phishing emails will typically:
Warn you of sudden changes in an account which require action.

Use poor spelling and grammar.

Request confidential or security information such as passwords, account numbers or PINs.

Include instructions to reply, complete a form or document attached to the email or provide you with a link to a website in order to confirm your account.


Important: HSBC will never ask you to disclose any security codes from your Secure Key over the telephone or via text, only fraudsters will.

Don't let email scams and fraudsters trick you into giving them your personal and banking information. If you receive an email from HSBC that looks suspicious, don’t click on links or reply but forward to us at phishing@hsbc.com.

You can find educational videos on phishing, vishing and smishing on our HSBC safeguarding YouTube channel.

For more on how HSBC is constantly looking after you and your online security please visit our Security Centre.

Yours sincerely


Martin Brown
Head of Digital Engagement

[Stanley]

I bank with them but delete all their mails because I do nothing online ...... So I have never seen that. I would take the error as an indication the message was a scam.

[Tizer]

It'll be a scam email China. There have been several types of HSBC scam ones. We got this one yesterday:

HSBC

Please review and complete attached documents
Dear customer,
We want to protect you and all our customers from the growing risks of fraud and financial crime, but we need your help.
What we need you to do
We sent you a secure document to ask you to review and complete attached documents.
To access it, download attached document, open the HSBC Safe document and follow the instructions. Please note that you cannot access secure content of this document using browser preview.
Please complete it within the next 5 days. It's very important that we receive this information, otherwise we'll need to contact you again.

Why are we doing this?
Protecting you and all of our customers is important to us. Our global systems rely on having the most up-to-date customer information to detect fraudulent transactions and safeguard against financial crime. So, even though you’ve banked with us for some time, we still need to reconfirm some of the information we have about you is correct.
In the meantime, if you have any questions or want to talk to someone about HSBC Safeguard, please contact us or visit w​w​w​.h​sbc.co​.u​k​/​hsbc​safe​guard.

Thank you for helping us to keep you and your money safe.
Yours sincerely

Becky Moffat
Head of HSBC Advance and Business Banking
Your security is our priority

In our emails, HSBC will never ask you for confidential information or to confirm your security details. Links within our emails will only take you to information pages. Please forward any suspicious emails to phishing@hsbc.com. For further information please visit our Security Centre.

Privacy statement | About us | Contact us | Find a branch | Security Centre

© HSBC Bank plc 2017. Registered Office: 8 Canada Square, London E14 5HQ. Registered in England - Number 14259.

[Followed by all the usual blurb about confidentiality and with an attached file titled secure.doc. Oh, and we've never given HSBC our email address!]

[chinatyke]

Thanks Tiz. I'm getting careless and took it to be genuine but ignored it anyway. There is so much going on at the moment with the banks ring-fencing changes. I always access and read my notifications through their secure on-line website.
Graham.

[Stanley]

I don't even open the mails, that alone could be dangerous.....

[Tizer]

The scammers are getting increasingly more adept at fooling even the most intelligent people. Sadly, businesses and other organisations such as solicitors, local authorities etc make matters worse by not taking care with their own communications and that makes it even easier for the scammers. It's not only email but telephone too and we get genuine firms ringing and asking us to provide personal information to prove that they've got through to the right person!

[Stanley]

Trust has been a casualty in the last 40 years Tiz. I lay a lot of it at the door of politics, they have not given the world a good example. Can you remember the time when a lie in Parliament meant the end of a career? Think Anthony Eden and Profumo. Now it is just allowed for as normal practice. 'Being Economical with the actualite'. It's contagious. Secrecy is closely related, how many lies and corrupt practices are concealed using the tired formula 'Commercially Confidential'?
Have a look at THIS report about the scramble for the Saudi Aramco stock flotation..... London is of course a contender. This is quite significant and it will be a blow to the City if NY is preferred....

[Stanley]

Like all of you I am bombarded with 'revelations' contained in the Paradise Papers. All very interesting and some hard nosed but legal decisions taken which damage the tax take and affect all of us.
However, I have a long memory and remember that when Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister in 1979 one of her earliest initiatives was to lift all restrictions on the export of capital, some believed that this was a quid pro quo for the support from 'The Men in Grey Suits' that gave her the Leadership in 1975. This is what is at the root of the off-shore boom and consequent tax avoidance. It is of course enabled by our Byzantine Tax Law which is designed to look punitive but in effect favours the wealthy who can afford the tax lawyers and accountants who use off-shore firms like Appleby (and this is only one player in this field) to maximise benefits. The solution isn't to have an attack of the vapours about people taking advantage of loopholes, it is to close the loopholes! Don't hold your breath, this is all part of the management of our system by the top 1% who have the power to hold parties in their thrall by judicious funding donations and lobbying. The bottom line is that we are being shafted.
One other thing struck me, Prince Charles' office proffered one item in their defence of Chuck that grabbed me. They said that he 'voluntarily' pays tax in the UK. Since when was paying tax 'voluntary'? Why does the Royal Family have this concession?

[plaques]

Listened to a lunchtime BBC discussion on why we need offshore banking operations. The experts answer was that these offshore investment companies had a wide ranging knowledge of foreign investment opportunities and were best placed to advise trusts and pension funds where to place their funds. He was then asked why couldn't an ordinary person place say £1000 in such a company. The answer was quite simple, these companies don't actually hold money. The instructions are relayed through say the Cayman Islands and returned to London who have world wide expertise on these investments. So there you have it. Approximately two nanoseconds after they are sent out they are back from where they started from but nothing illegal is being done because they are 'offshore'. The same logic applies to head offices. Just because a few electrons or light particle travel round the globe doesn't mean they are physically where the registration says they are. Time for a big rethink on these processes.

[Stanley]

I agree P. Interestingly, nobody has mentioned one of the most common ploys that is so simple that even I can understand it. Take a real life example, Heathrow Airport.... it is owned by a foreign company and makes a healthy real-life profit each year. Like many large enterprises it makes full use of credit to finance day to day operations and smooth cash flow. Instead of borrowing the money commercially in the UK it gets it from the parent company, and here's the clever bit.... The parent company charges a punitive rate of interest which ensures that the 'profit' is reduced to a point where little or no Corporation Tax is paid in UK. Trebles all round and perfectly legal. But is it ethical? This is the question that should be asked about every off-shore transaction but how do you legislate to control morality and ethics? Food for thought for the Royal Family regardless of 'legality'.
Look at what happened to the Co-op Bank when it attempted to trade ethically....

[Tizer]

Cayman Islands and returned to London who have world wide expertise on these investments. So there you have it. Approximately two nanoseconds after they are sent out they are back from where they started from but nothing illegal is being done because they are 'offshore'. The same logic applies to head offices. Just because a few electrons or light particle travel round the globe doesn't mean they are physically where the registration says they are. Time for a big rethink on these processes.

But that's what money is these days...who needs bitcoin? It's all just data now.

[PanBiker]

If all the jet aircraft that are registered in the IOM came home at once the island would probably sink!

[Stanley]

Funnily enough Marx saw it all coming in Das Kapital but nobody reads that these days. To mention Marx is to trigger knee-jerk reactions based on ignorance of history.
The original version of Das Kapital is impenetrable, however there is a more accessible version in the 'Skeptical Reader Series published in 2009 by Regnery Publishing, ISBN 0-89526-711-X which is basically an explanatory and much simplified version of the original. That was the way I got into it as I recognised that 99% of the people who expressed an opinion about Marx knew nothing about him or his work. In fact Marx was probably the most influential mid 19the century philosopher and Das Kapital forecasts so many of our 21st century ills in society.
Here it is on Bookfinder.... LINK

[Tizer]

Letters are arriving from our banks to warn us of changes to their Terms & Conditions in January 2018. This is because the Payment Services Directive II (PSD2) will be implemented on that date. If this sounds boring and not worth looking at then think again. It's the implementation of `Open Banking', whereby third parties will be allowed access to all your personal details. The banks will be wanting to convince us that it offers a bright new world of easy financial transactions, making our lives simpler and saving us time, and they'll tell us that it's absolutely secure and nothing to worry about. `Just sign here'. But remember, you have the option to say No. If you have 100% trust and confidence in your bank then by all means go ahead and let them offer out your data. If, like me, you don't trust them to keep data secure then you may prefer to say No Thanks.

To find out more, read this simple web page to get the facts: LINK

[Stanley]

Useful reminder Tiz. Am I to understand that we have to physically give our consent or is it automatic?

[Tizer]

As far as I can tell at this stage, they have to ask us to give consent rather than it being consent by default. But I'll believe it when I see it!