On a day when one-third of America’s households (76 million of them) were revealed to have had their accounts hacked at JP Morgan Chase. Another 7 million businesses were hacked, among them possibly my own company, Global Investing, for which Chase maintains a business checking account and authorizes credit card payments from our customers.
But I faced a different kind of crisis with a different bank. I got an email from HSBC, where I have my personal account, telling me that there was a problem with my Premier World MasterCard Credit Card. I called the number to wind up speaking to an overseas customer service agent with extremely poor English, just the thing to reassure a panicked customer.
Targeted
It turns out that “my” card was used at a Target store in an outer borough to spend over $500. I have never shopped at Target in my life, but I did use that card at another business that has been hacked, Home Depot. He assured me he was “bonded†but I wonder why HSBC didn’t hire someone who can speak English. I believe there are a bunch of supposedly vetted US Secret Service agents looking for a new job.
Anyway both my check account and my credit card have been compromised but, I have been told, my brokerage account at HSBC is “safe”. I will watch it closely, but unfortunately I am far too ham-fisted to install the security system dingbat I was sent about a month ago supposed to protect my account. I am trying to get them to turn it off.
Maybe I can hire a bonded foreign techie of of my own to deal with the technology which requires that a code be generated and input in six seconds, way too fast for my fingers, eyes, and brain to note and input. I am not sure if it is me or the device.
What a great start to a day which will end with the powerful music and meaningless text of Kol Nidray and the fast of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement!
More follows but not much of it with news from Canada, Bermuda, China, Dubai, Switzerland, Jordan, Portugal, Britain, and Brazil, No new stock picks but paid subscribers to my site have a contest offering them a way to give a year’s sub to someone they know or love by guessing our Irish Stock Pick, as reported yesterday. Only paid subscribers are eligible.
