Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Myequifax.com Bypasses Credit Freeze Pin

krebsonsecurity.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 206 posts

Re: Myequifax.com Bypasses Credit Freeze Pin

#121

Post by Trisell »

techsupporter wrote: post #26
css wrote: post #3

> the data being asked about in these KBA quizzes is culled from public records Yesterday, when opening a savings account with a major US financial institution, one of the KBA questions asked for my Zodiac sign. The other two were about a mortgage and the year I was born (±1 year). I do not understand why any competent institution would find these secure and it appalls me that is all the information needed to open an…

That looks like Ally Bank. --BUT, it isn't, per the reply below. It's Discover, though Ally asked me the same zodiac question in what looked like the same font.-- They won't open a joint savings account for my wife and I because my wife doesn't have a phone bill in her own name "for verification." (We've been on the same Southwestern Bell/Cingular/AT&T, recently T-Mobile, family plan for the past, oh, fifteen years,…

TBH it’s not the banks fault. Our governments stance on taxes, terrorism and drugs has caused this. Due to the need to verify citizenship, verify that you aren’t a terrorist and verify that you are a drug lord laundering money the banks are forced to jump through all of these hoops to give you an account.

Re: Myequifax.com Bypasses Credit Freeze Pin

#122

Post by reaperducer »

komali2 wrote: post #57
Robelius wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had a similar issue with Chase calling me, as a follow up to fraudulent charges on my card. They were asking for basic identifying information, but I didn’t feel comfortable so I hung up. I then called Chase and asked if it really was them that called, and they confirmed it was actually them. But then they also apoligized and resumed the previous call from where I hung up. It was just nice to not be judged for bein…

That's pretty atypical for Chase - whenever I get a call from them, it's always something like "Please call the number on the back of your credit card to solve this issue."

I've had Chase call me, text messages requesting that I call Chase, e-mail messages requesting that I call Chase, and both e-mail and text messages asking me to reply with a specific letter or number to verify a purchase.

I have multiple Chase accounts in multiple tiers (business, etc...), so my guess is what kind of contact you get depends on the nature of the account.

Re: Myequifax.com Bypasses Credit Freeze Pin

#123

Post by astura »

cedaratlas wrote: post #111
nkrisc wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Zodiac sign? Seriously? I don't know what mine is because that is not a belief system/religion I subscribe to so I had to Google it. Turns out my birthdate must be on the border because different sources have it as a different sign. They might as well ask what color my aura is.

Better than the SS administration who ask "Where were you when 9/11 happened" or "Where were you when JFK was assassinated"...Took a screenshot of these but cant find it now. My method is picking the common questions like "what street did you grow up on" and assigning it a random/not true/or another question such as "I don't know what my favorite street is"

These are so called "security questions" for that account; the great grandparent is talking about "knowledge-based authentication," which is a different thing entirely.

The "security questions" you choose your answers, in "knowledge-based authentication" the questions and answers are generated based on the information on your credit reports and other databases, such as insurance databases. You don't make up answers, they already know the answers.

Re: Myequifax.com Bypasses Credit Freeze Pin

#124

Post by reaperducer »

SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #18
arcticbull wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re exactly right. It’s the same reason we’re required to sign checks then the bank promptly ignores the signatures. It’s cheaper to handle the fraud than check the signatures, but it makes us feel good to do it anyways.

I wish - a few years ago I was trying to pay for rent with a cheque and it bounced. I ended up sending another cheque, having that one get rejected, go into the bank and give them a new signature sample, and then have the next cheque be rejected as well due to the signature. Apparently my bank checks cheques.

Apparently my bank checks cheques

One of mine, too; though only sporadically, it seems.

Now those people at the Board of Elections are hard-core about signatures. I've been hassled twice when trying to vote because my signature on their pad didn't match what is in their records.

I have a "good" signature, and one that looks like a doctor writing a prescription. I have no idea which one they're looking for.

Re: Myequifax.com Bypasses Credit Freeze Pin

#125

Post by nkrisc »

BartBoch wrote: post #83
nkrisc wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Zodiac sign? Seriously? I don't know what mine is because that is not a belief system/religion I subscribe to so I had to Google it. Turns out my birthdate must be on the border because different sources have it as a different sign. They might as well ask what color my aura is.

Sounds... not right. What is the date?

I just now Googled Scorpio (found a sign that isn't "mine", as an example) and saw dates that varied by up to 19 days on the tail end of the Scorpio range.

Depending on the sources I scanned on the first two pages of results, the cutoff is somewhere between November 2 and November 21.

Re: Myequifax.com Bypasses Credit Freeze Pin

#126

Post by smush »

RandomCitizen wrote: post #103

I just made upper management aware at Equifax. Let's see how long this takes until they require the FUCKING PIN number to unfreeze your credit on their website. What a joke.

Thanks for posting this, please reply back and let us know their reaction. It might be popcorn worthy, or it might be 'meh' - either way, it is of interest to me and I suspect HN.

Re: Myequifax.com Bypasses Credit Freeze Pin

#127

Post by astura »

mfoy_ wrote: post #117
astura wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some KBA questions don't show up on your credit report, that being said, they can still be guessed with some certainty if you know the person. Some examples either me or my husband have gotten: -What month was [person] born? [person] was my mom and one option was "I don't know [person]." Luckily they didn't ask the date, because I don't know that, but I do know the month. -Which of the following people are/were you a…

> my ex as one of the answers. This one baffled me because we never lived together and never had a bank account or loan together Yikes. Where did they get that from? I wonder if they also collected tons of info from FaceBook like it seems everyone else has.

This was around... Oh... 8-9 years ago and I'm still trying to figure it out. It's honestly bothered me since then. I just really want to know how they connected us. I'm not mad they did, I just want to know how.

We never had an insurance policy together or anything else like that either.

Re: Myequifax.com Bypasses Credit Freeze Pin

#128

Post by reaperducer »

SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #98
astura wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I once forgot to sign a check completely, like totally blank signature line. It was cashed just fine.

I wonder if you could argue that that wasn't a valid cheque to the bank then. But then you'd be saying you were claiming fraud against yourself, so somehow you'd still end up the one in trouble.

Probably not. The Clinton-era law that relaxed check verification rules so that we could deposit checks remotely online moved a lot of the burden onto the consumer instead of the bank. That was one of the reasons it was opposed so loudly by consumer groups.

Re: Myequifax.com Bypasses Credit Freeze Pin

#129

Post by nkrisc »

nothrabannosir wrote: post #88
thetrumanshow wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And now you have to keep all of your lies straight.

Absolutely; use a password manager. This is the least bad way to go for these types of "security questions": give a plausible, but wrong, answer. Correct is too easy to guess. Obviously wrong will be recognised by the customer service representative, who is a kind person, and will help you out by just disabling the question (anecdotes galore for this, to the point we can call it data). Lie, in a believable way. Put t…

I save my security questions in a password manager and just generate it. Though I've thought about instead giving answers that would serve as a message to customer service rep to actually validate it in cases of someone trying to impersonate me.

Q: Where were you on New Year's Eve in 1999? A: demand-exact-answer-over-phone

Re: Myequifax.com Bypasses Credit Freeze Pin

#130

Post by _jal »

zelon88 wrote: post #92

Equifax has the unique ability to collect the most private information available, even when they have never or will never interact with that person. I think the entire credit system needs to be changed. If credit bureau's can't be responsible then citizens should get a choice in the matter. These companies have us by the balls and we have no recourse. It's a monopoly complete with price fixing and everything, except…

All that would be required for reform, I think, is a small revision to the FCRA. Remove their near-immunity from libel law and let our famous hunger for civil suits do the rest.
Post reply on HN