Path: news.eternal-september.org!eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Newyana2 Newsgroups: uk.telecom.mobile,comp.mobile.android Subject: =?UTF-8?Q?Re=3a_=22=27Scammers_stole_=c2=a340k_after_EDF_gave_out_m?= =?UTF-8?Q?y_number=22?= Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2025 08:12:12 -0500 Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 80 Message-ID: References: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Injection-Date: Wed, 05 Mar 2025 14:11:16 +0100 (CET) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="3f5ad65ae4a16fa3676cc7736818ce41"; logging-data="2562980"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX1/ayQ0utiCRoeMN+TUriJ9u3LqfZtNVqRI=" User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:78.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/78.3.1 Cancel-Lock: sha1:MRMEYBDwWY7r5rf/wXjU/u70zkQ= Content-Language: en-US In-Reply-To: On 3/5/2025 3:44 AM, David Wade wrote: >>   So, no, I would not be "royally screwed". I don't live the reckless >> e-lifestyle that you believe is unavoidable. > > In the UK its pretty much unavoidable. Bank branches are closing, so for > example if you live on parts of the Yorkshire Dales you nearest branch > might be a 45 minute drive away down country lanes.... > People have been talking about that. It sounds like Europe is 30 years ahead of the US with these changes. I can reach several branches within 10 miles. One is an easy walk. And I could also walk to a different bank. My bank actually seems to be adding tellers and managers. I don't know why. Since COVID I mostly use the ATM. My theory is that it may be connected to the great money management scam. It's become common in the US for people to leave their money in the hands of "professional money managers". These people charge up to 1% per year, whether your bets win or lose. They set you up with stocks, funds, annuities, and so on. It made some sense back when people were making 16% interest on a typical investment fund. Today the profits are not nearly so predictable and income may actually drop. But it seems to be where banks are making most of their money. They're certainly making no efforts to seduce me into a savings account, with .001% interest. > > ...  many government tasks have to be done on-line. Watching a TV > program last night, on claiming some pension credits you need to do it > on-line. What if you have no on-line access some one asked, the answer, > go to the library or ask a friend... > We have some things like that. Social Seccurity (retirement) gets auto-deposited. There's no choice in the matter. For old people without computers there are libraries and senior centers, with volunteers to help. It's not a terrible burden. But that's very different from choosing to live through a cellphone. > Now I know to do these things in the UK on-line requires a mobile linked > to an e-mail account, so lose your mobile and buy a new one you are > screwed... > That's one of the factors that makes me nervous. Another is that security on a cellphone is a mystery. The device is a sieve and I get very little control over it. Nor do I want to spend a year becoming an Android expert. I was thinking of buying stocks at one point, but to do it cheaply is only online, and that requires a cellphone. Which brings up another problem: As we get increasingly automated, no one is minding the store. Companies can simply avoid anyone who wants to complain or close their account by having no humans in the process. That's also why the fees are cheaper. It's becoming like Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times. He foresaw that almost 100 years ago, yet few see it now. One can invest through the US Treasury with no cellphone. A code is sent to email. That's safe in my book. Once I get the code and finish logging in, no one else can log in. Even if they could, there's no access there to money. I've created Social Securtity accounts and IRS (tax) accounts, simply so that no one else can do it in my name. But I expect Chris and his e-addled ilk will get the last laugh. Probably within 5 years I'll be pulled over on the road because there's no identifying ping coming from my car. The officer will discover that I don't have a cellphone to provide an easily searchable documentation of my life. I'll then be arrested, either under suspicion of espionage, or for mental competency testing. If I'm lucky, I'll be released with a cellphone locked to my wrist, ordered to buy stuff and join social media, then forced to check in with a parole officer once every two weeks -- on Zoom.