Re: "'Scammers stole £40k after EDF gave out my number"

On 2025-03-05 09:44, David Wade wrote:

On 05/03/2025 1:43, Newyana2 wrote:

On 3/4/2025 4:09 PM, Chris wrote:
>

>
If someone has your emails and your mobile phone number you are royally
screwed. Yes, even you.
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>
  I'm repeatedly struck by how much cellphone addicts can't
imagine any other way to live. My cellphone has no address book,
no apps to speak of, no passwords. I keep it in case I need to
make a phone call away from home. If someone steals it then
I'd just buy another $40 TracFone amnd another $20 card to
get me 3 months usage. No big loss.
>

 >    My emails are not sitting on a server somewhere. I download> them and then delete them from the server. I don't use either for

banking, shopping, transmitting credit card numbers, etc.

 That is what Oliver North thought happened....
 

>
  So, no, I would not be "royally screwed". I don't live the reckless
e-lifestyle that you believe is unavoidable.

 In the UK its pretty much unavoidable. Bank branches are closing, so for example if you live on parts of the Yorkshire Dales you nearest branch might be a 45 minute drive away down country lanes....
 https://www.darlingtonandstocktontimes.co.uk/news/23289735.fury-closure- bedale-leyburn-barclays-branches/
 ...  many government tasks have to be done on-line. Watching a TV program last night, on claiming some pension credits you need to do it on-line. What if you have no on-line access some one asked, the answer, go to the library or ask a friend...
 Now I know to do these things in the UK on-line requires a mobile linked to an e-mail account, so lose your mobile and buy a new one you are screwed...

It is the same in Spain. I live in a biggish city (~200K inhabitants). The bank branches are gone, now I have to walk farther. I'm fortunate, there are still branches at walking distance, villages in the country side may have no branches at all. Maybe not even an ATM.
If I want to put some savings in a fund, I have to talk over the phone with someone at their central offices, the people at the branch do nothing, they no longer do it. And the signing operation maybe done on the computer or on the phone, reading unreadable tiny documents on the screen. Even if I go to the office to see papers, I have to sign them on the phone.
It doesn't matter what I think about having a smartphone.
--
Cheers, Carlos.