Standard Bank SMS flood flabbergasts Vodacom user

This is bizarre, how can the users PC be logging him into Online banking constantly? Passwords are not saved by browsers for secure sites.
 
Even if Standard Bank's story was true - that it is one of their clients - they should still have measures in place to detect consistent spam and to stop it.

Secondly, they should have a way of verifying your cellphone number so users can't link someone else's number to their account
 
Standark W*nk are full of it.

This guy should have just installed a number blocker (freely available on the Play Store).
 
StevenC said:
This guy should have just installed a number blocker (freely available on the Play Store).
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As stated in the article, he did install a blocker, but it doesn't prevent the message from arriving, which still seems to impact your battery life.
 
GG_Allin said:
This is bizarre, how can the users PC be logging him into Online banking constantly? Passwords are not saved by browsers for secure sites.
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:confused:Incorrect. It can be stored. Opera & Chrome have the option available.

Pakka said:
Even if Standard Bank's story was true - that it is one of their clients - they should still have measures in place to detect consistent spam and to stop it.

Secondly, they should have a way of verifying your cellphone number so users can't link someone else's number to their account
Click to expand...

I had a similar problem with Ctrack. Automated calls and sms's about collisions etc

Gave them a call, stated it was unsolicited communication. 2 minutes later and an apology- cleared off their database :)
 
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StevenC said:
This guy should have just installed a number blocker (freely available on the Play Store).
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Yeah, that was the first thing I considered, but there's a few side effects:
* Installing a number blocker gives that app FULL access to your SMS, call history and phonebook. It's a little disconcerting to see that they all need full Internet access too: mostly for ads, but would you take the chance that they can remotely commandeer your phone?
* Even with a number blocker, each time the network wakes up your phone, you lose a little battery. If the number blocker worked at network level, or the messages came in much less frequently it would be a different story.
* Finally, I only had the temerity of having a specific cell phone number. Standard Bank made it very clear to me in the phone conversations that they will not be taking any responsibility for this "error".

Jan
 
GG_Allin said:
This is bizarre, how can the users PC be logging him into Online banking constantly? Passwords are not saved by browsers for secure sites.
Click to expand...

Maybe some 3rd party app is doing (such as 22seven)
 
Pakka said:
Even if Standard Bank's story was true - that it is one of their clients - they should still have measures in place to detect consistent spam and to stop it.

Secondly, they should have a way of verifying your cellphone number so users can't link someone else's number to their account
Click to expand...

Until the cellphone company recycles the number.
 
2012 said:
Maybe some 3rd party app is doing (such as 22seven)
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We were discussing this possibility in the office as well. Probably not 22seven as they have disabled automatic updating (it only logs into your bank accounts when you log into the 22seven website), but similar (rogue? buggy?) services that use a financial aggregator like Yodlee could be causing the frequent logins.
 
elvis_presley said:
Maybe nothing... Standard bank are talking *** :) This was obviously some bug stuck in an SMS sending loop.
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Or a bug in 22seven making it stuck in a login loop. Regardless, the bank should have system in place to detect this kind of thing.
 
Jan said:
We were discussing this possibility in the office as well. Probably not 22seven as they have disabled automatic updating (it only logs into your bank accounts when you log into the 22seven website), but similar (rogue? buggy?) services that use a financial aggregator like Yodlee could be causing the frequent logins.
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Could be something as silly as a scrape/parse error that causes 3rd party app to retry from login step, wouldnt surpise me.
 
2012 said:
Could be something as silly as a scrape/parse error that causes 3rd party app to retry from login step, wouldnt surpise me.
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Weird thing is that I never got any SMSes for verification numbers: things like TVN and RVN's were never there, just the logins. This means that IF it were some guy's account, he must not be doing much with it. It definitely did not look like I was receiving any normal stuff from a legitimate user.

On the other hand, it could very well be some kind of spammer trying to do a DoS. In which case he fraudulently managed to open up a bank account using false information. I'm not sure if Standard Bank is liable under these circumstances.

Jan
 
bollie said:
Weird thing is that I never got any SMSes for verification numbers: things like TVN and RVN's were never there, just the logins. This means that IF it were some guy's account, he must not be doing much with it. It definitely did not look like I was receiving any normal stuff from a legitimate user.

On the other hand, it could very well be some kind of spammer trying to do a DoS. In which case he fraudulently managed to open up a bank account using false information. I'm not sure if Standard Bank is liable under these circumstances.

Jan
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Can you give us the originating number? My company is in the SMS game, I might be able to provide some insight.

Edit: Damn, everybody just started leaving the office, so I won't be able to provide that much insight - wanted to ask our one chap who owns the originating number if it's a bulk line, he has that kind of info on hand.
 
elvis_presley said:
Can you give us the originating number? My company is in the SMS game, I might be able to provide some insight.
Click to expand...

No rush, since it's stopped now:

+2784000151910045 (11131 messages)
+2782007248110045 (193 messages)
+2782007248010045 (155 messages)

AFAIK the originator can spoof their numbers in certain circumstances.

Jan
 
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