Defending your Data

Whilst washing my hair this morning, I found myself wondering about the way we are all expected to respond when receiving a phone call from companies that we have accounts with, such as a Bank.

The scenario is:

The telephone rings. We answer it and a person at the other end tells us that the call will be recorded for training purposes and then asks us for a range of personal information, to confirm who we are, before continuing with the call.

We automatically answer all these questions.

Then we are told which company the call is from and the purpose of the call.

What guarantee is there that someone, or some people, could not make calls like this to gather personal information to use in illegal activities, such as fraud? After all, once you'd given the details how would you react if the call came to a sudden end? You'd probably wonder what had happened; maybe wait for the company to call back and, perhaps, wonder which company it was that made the call.

What can we do to safeguard our personal information?

I suppose the first step to take is to ensure, in so far as it is possible, that the phone call is from a company that you know you have an account with. Which sounds easy, doesn't it?

Have you ever asked the person which company they are calling from and what the call is about, before giving the responses they require?

I have and they don't seem to like it. Which seems odd to me, after all if the call is legitimate, why not say which company the call is from and what it is about?