It could happen to anyone, but what makes the difference is the attitude. These kinds of thieves are intelligent people. The TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson knows that now, but only after his bank account had been hacked.
What about the attitude? First Clarkson declared in a newspaper that the data lost by staff at HM Revenue &Customs was futile and, in order to prove it, he published his own bank details.
The consequence was that, after this action, he had to apologize in public when £500 vanished from his account.
The fact is that he willingly gave his account number, sort code and his address. And this self confidence made him lose some money.
We can find his declaration in a Sunday Times article: "I opened my bank statement this morning to find out that someone has set up a direct debit which automatically takes £500 from my account".
And this in not all: the bank wasn’t able to find who did it because of the Data Protection Act. And still is not all: the transfer of money from his account is taking place again and the bank can do nothing about.
Diabetes UK, a charity, is now enjoying the money without necessitating a signature to set up a standing order. That’s how this issue became a serious one, leading to the already mentioned apologizes.
"Contrary to what I said at the time, we must go after the idiots who lost the discs and stick cocktail sticks in their eyes until they beg for mercy." … And this indeed helps creating the right attitude.
