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Thanks, @jonf and everyone else who has given me advice. I conclude that internet banking is not for me.
I'm well aware that my bank puts online the information needed to operate my account but I don't. My logic is that so long as I don't put that information online or divulge it to anyone else (for example I would never use my debit card to make a payment), if anything goes wrong, it's the bank's security that has failed, not mine. While the bank may not be absolutely secure, it knows much more about how to keep its data safe than I do.
 
The software belongs to Microsoft. I'm using it under licence. That software cotrols my computer.

Precisely. However, we both know our expensive hardware is nothing more than a blank screen and a number of buttons with various symbols on them without an operating system. So unless you go open source or get coding yourself, that's the choice.
 
This reminds me of an incident which took place around 1980. My friend Brian had bought a Sinclair ZX80 computer and was showing it to his brother Ian, a computer engineer. Ian said, "you've no idea what this computer will do" and asked for Brian's building society passbook.
With the information in the passbook Ian brought Brian's account onto the computer screen. "Would you like another million?" and before Brian could stop him, Ian had added £1M to his account. Thoroughly scared, Brian made Ian remove the £1M and shut the computer down. I gather it isn't like that any more!
1980, and a ZX80. I can 100% guarantee Ian was winding Brian up, there's no way in those days there would have been personal online access to a building society account.

I've banked online for ages, but my bank don't have an email address for me (and they don't half whinge about that). Hence ANY emails I get saying there's a problem with my account are definitely phishing, and duly get ignored.
 
1980, and a ZX80. I can 100% guarantee Ian was winding Brian up, there's no way in those days there would have been personal online access to a building society account.
Well, I didn't see it, but I've no reason to doubt it. One thing I must make clear: this wasn't online access via the internet, it was via an ordinary telephone line. In those days the internet was almost unheard-of.
 
I was working on the IT side for a UK bank in the 70s. ATMs were around by the late 70s. Some of my colleagues were programming them, wrestling with assembler and very limited memory, the programs were burnt into special chips. Not sure when the first went to the public, but it was around then. But it does sound as if Richard was being conned.
 
Regarding @richardr's query... although I work in IT in financial services, I don't deal with the online / mobile banking side except indirectly. What I would say is online access is via a secures web site (always check for https and the padlock) and then conneciton and data are encrypted.

I would NEVER click on a link on an e-mail that's come in - no matter how convincing it looks. Always log on directly.

The only fraud I've had so far has been on my credit card and I'm pretty certain I know what happened. I bought some presents on a busniess trip to India and used my card and it was the old voucher system. Someone must have got one of the carbons and sold my details. There was a one dollar Amazon US transaciton which I got an e-mail notice from, which alerted me. That was testing the details. I rang up the credit card company and they said there was another bigger transaction pending. They refunded the money, shut the account and gave me a new card.
 
Well, I didn't see it, but I've no reason to doubt it. One thing I must make clear: this wasn't online access via the internet, it was via an ordinary telephone line. In those days the internet was almost unheard-of.
ZX80 didn't have a port for a modem.
 

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