British bank sends out debit and credit cards -- pre-activated!

[thewayne]

One of the writers stumbled upon HSBC sending out new and replacement cards that did not require activation. One guy took a card from a brand-new account and went around for over a week making purchases before dialing the number and activating the card. The people with the bank said 'we're very concerned about our customer's security' without saying they were going to fix the problem.

The telling bit is that this was first reported in 2004.

http://www.knowzy.com/Personal_Finance/Credit/Credit_Cards/HSBC_Sends_Activated_Debit_Cards_In_Mail.htm

http://news.slashdot.org/story/10/07/05/2235205/HSBC-Bank-Sends-Activated-Debit-Cards-Through-Mail

Comments

[silveradept]

So anyone with the intent of stealing mail could find themselves the lucky recipient of someone else's checking account and the mark left none the wiser until they get hit with a wave of NSF fees.

And it's been going on for six years? Seems like the security division should be sacked on general principles.