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

On 3/5/2025 3:44 AM, David Wade wrote:

  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....
 

     People have been talking about that. It sounds like
Europe is 30 years ahead of the US with these changes.
I can reach several branches within 10 miles. One is an
easy walk. And I could also walk to a different bank.
   My bank actually seems to be adding tellers and managers.
I don't know why. Since COVID I mostly use the ATM. My
theory is that it may be connected to the great money
management scam. It's become common in the US for people
to leave their money in the hands of "professional money
managers". These people charge up to 1% per year, whether
your bets win or lose. They set you up with stocks, funds,
annuities, and so on. It made some sense back when people
were making 16% interest on a typical investment fund. Today
the profits are not nearly so predictable and income may actually
drop. But it seems to be where banks are making most of their
money. They're certainly making no efforts to seduce me into
a savings account, with .001% interest.

 ...  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...
 

   We have some things like that. Social Seccurity (retirement)
gets auto-deposited. There's no choice in the matter. For old
people without computers there are libraries and senior centers,
with volunteers to help. It's not a terrible burden. But that's
very different from choosing to live through a cellphone.

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...
 

   That's one of the factors that makes me nervous. Another
is that security on a cellphone is a mystery. The device is
a sieve and I get very little control over it. Nor do I want to
spend a year becoming an Android expert.
    I was thinking of buying stocks at one point, but to do
it cheaply is only online, and that requires a cellphone. Which
brings up another problem: As we get increasingly automated,
no one is minding the store. Companies can simply avoid anyone
who wants to complain or close their account by having no
humans in the process. That's also why the fees are cheaper.
It's becoming like Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times. He foresaw
that almost 100 years ago, yet few see it now.
   One can invest through the US Treasury with no cellphone.
A code is sent to email. That's safe in my book. Once I get
the code and finish logging in, no one else can log in. Even if
they could, there's no access there to money. I've created
Social Securtity accounts and IRS (tax) accounts, simply so
that no one else can do it in my name.
   But I expect Chris and his e-addled ilk will get the last laugh.
Probably within 5 years I'll be pulled over on the road because
there's no identifying ping coming from my car. The officer will
discover that I don't have a cellphone to provide an easily
searchable documentation of my life. I'll then be arrested, either
under suspicion of espionage, or for mental competency
testing. If I'm lucky, I'll be released with a cellphone locked
to my wrist, ordered to buy stuff and join social media, then
forced to check in with a parole officer once every two weeks --
on Zoom.