Gotta love it

As someone employed in the financial services industry - in particular in Operations - I pissed myself when I read this in the paper this evening. I absolutely love the audacity of the fraudster - it almost sounds like it must be made up. As for the poor sods involved that didn't follow ID procedures.... New year, new job, eh?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/jan/10/scamsandfraud.creditcards
Barclays boss falls victim to ID fraud

This article was first published on guardian.co.uk on Thursday January 10 2008. It was last updated at 15:43 on January 10 2008.

A fraudster posing as the chairman of Barclays stole £10,000 from the bank after tricking a member of staff into sending him a credit card, it emerged today.

The conman duped call centre staff into issuing a credit card in the name of banking boss Marcus Agius and then used it to withdraw funds at a high street branch.

It is believed that the thief, working alone or as part of a gang, used the internet to find out details concerning Agius, such as his date of birth and address.

He then contacted a Barclaycard employee and requested that a new card be sent out.

Armed with the information and the card, the conman entered a branch of the bank and walked away with £10,000 of Agius's cash.

Barclaycard has since reimbursed the chairman and the fraud has prompted a review of procedures at the bank and the implementation of new security checks for senior executives.

Agius, who took over as Barclays chairman last January, said: "Credit card fraud is an issue which our industry continues to confront.

"Barclays is resolved to do everything possible on behalf of our customers to minimise its impact."

A spokesman for Barclaycard added: "It was down to human error, procedures were not followed fully and we have learned from it.

"This is an ongoing battle with professional fraudsters. All Barclays customers, from the chairman downwards, have a 100% fraud guarantee as long as they take responsible care of their information."

This is the second high profile case of identity fraud to emerge this week, after the TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson revealed he had also fallen victim to fraudsters.

He lost £500 after publishing his bank details in a national newspaper in an attempt to show fears about identity fraud were over the top.

In the first six months of last year criminals stole £263.6m through card crime, according to the payments association Apacs.