Internet Banking: Good or Bad Idea?

I have been internet banking for several years now, and feel quite safe. My fear is debit cards, My wife had two accounts cleaned out by a camera etc. in a small souvenire type shop, miles away from home.
However, I do take precautions re phising, keep up my AVG, etc

I’ve been doing online banking for many years (BOA). Yes, I’ve encountered phishing, I’ve also encountered phishing for banks and credit cards that I don’t even have! Its just like anything else on the ‘Net - just be careful!!!

I have used online banking for at ten years. As of yet, I have not encountered any problems. I regularly run anti-spyware and anti-virus and take basic precautions such as manually typing my bank’s website [on home computer I use a desktop link that I made]. Of course, it helps that no one else uses my computer…

I bank with a local bank that only has about 6 or 7 locations in our state. I did not sign up for their Internet banking because I still don’t trust the security of Internet banking.

I am glad that I did not sign up for Internet banking because the phishermen started sending out the phishing emails for this small chain of banks. I must have received over 30 phishing emails in the past year, and they were very convincing, too. They were convincing enough that I would have probably been taken in by them if I had an Internet account. But since I didn’t have an Internet account, I was able to identify them as fishing emails and notified the bank.

So, if a small bank chain like this can be hit, it looks like there is still a lot of risk involved with Internet banking.

Obviously, the problem with Internet Banking is someone getting your password and logon and then they can do what they wish with YOUR money. However, consider a few things first. when you hand a check to a retail person, does it go into a lock box, or do they have access to that check? If they have access to that check, they have your SIGNATURE and bank account number and routing number. If you put your checks to be mailed in your home mailbox where the world has access, not to mention the postman, same thing. when you use the internet to pay bills, as long as you protect your logon and password, you can rest assured that it’s virtually impossible to get into your account. And that’s the key. Don’t use public terminals, and don’t retain your password on your computer , desktop or laptop. As to phishing attacks, the key is to use a phone and call your bank if you get correspondence from them to verify that they did in fact send that correspondence. Actually, people should be more concerned about giving credit card numbers over the phone and when handing your credit card to a retail clerk or waiter at a resturant.

M. Free

I have instructed my bank - repeatedly - that my account is to be “Read-Only”. I can look up my balance, see if certain activities actually took place, and check other activities. I cannot do any other activity. There is no way I (or anyone else) can transfer funds, charge the account, or even open a “new” activity.

While the bank has been slow to accept this idea, it has proven safer than “regular” online banking with total I/O support. That is not to say the bank was not accepting of this arrangement; they just wanted all their customers to feel safe with “full-service” - - - which I am not.

This is what I suggest all my friends and family do; unfortunately, they do not agree with me, and I do hear, now and again, of problems associated with their arrangements, but they’re still happy with the risks. I’m not.

On another aspect: I once read an ad for something like a “Fifth-third Bank”. I found the ad to be humorous and Googled it.
Indeed, there was such a facility.

Within a week, I received emails advising me of changes in my account!

If a bank can be the subject of such rabid phishing, how can they tell their customers that they are “safe”?

Obviously, their system was under the control of professional hackers who could discover the xxx.xx.xx.xx of a simple browser “hit”, find out the name and address (email) of the browser and send them a mailing.

The bank told me they had not sent me the e-mail, and that their site was not hacked. I found that both amusing and tragic.

The fact that any institution can claim they are “clean” and are either ignorant or unconcerned about such reports suggests to me that I would not want to entrust my finances with them; not unless they publicly admit to being compromised and then offer some proof that they had secured their facility. Perhaps this finally happened with the institution I mentioned, but I was still receiving emails from “them” until around three months ago.

Not a strong endorsement for online banking to me.