Fraud not only hurts a financial institution’s bottom line, it also generates the kind of negative publicity that’s difficult to erase and easily metastasizes in this information age. Thanks to the rise of social media, any fraud victim can log onto his or her blog, or post a clip on YouTube, and instantly vent about their experience for all of the world to hear. If their posting is entertaining or outrageous enough, it’s liable to circle the globe in as little as a few weeks, further blackening the institution’s reputation.

In recent years, HSBC has had its fair share of problems in the area of consumer fraud. A study published in February 2008 identified HSBC as the bank with the highest reported rate of identity theft in the country. This is hardly the sort of news that warms customers’ hearts, but it seems like HSBC is determined to fight back.

A few weeks ago, we received a voice mail message from the firm’s raud Prevention department, which wanted to verify a check that was written from our account for $500. The rep left behind a number for us to call back. Our first instinct was to think this might be a scam, so we went to HSBC’s website and found a different toll-free number to call instead.

When we connected to a rep, we learned the original call was, in fact, legitimate. So what prompted this intervention? According to the rep, the signature on the check looked a bit different from the signature on file for our account. As a result, they wanted to verify that we had written the check. Over the phone, they verified our identity by asking a few questions like “What’s your date of birth?” and “What’s your mother’s maiden name?” After we delivered the right answers, they simply asked if we’d written the $500 check to John Smith (we had). 

While we’re not sure our signature looked any different on that check than it usually does, we were pleased to see HSBC take this kind of precaution. Hopefully, the firm is able to safeguard against future incidents through enhanced security measures like these.