When I receive a call from a bank, the phone number is usually not familiar to me.

When I pick up, the caller will generally ask for my name, and then request that I give the last four digits of my NRIC for verification purposes. If I refuse to do so, the caller will not proceed, and rightfully so.

I find the current set-up to be not secure. Essentially, I am handing over sensitive information to an unknown caller from an unknown number.

If I were to be misled by a scammer, he would have my name, phone number and last four digits of my NRIC.

A better method would be for the bank to send an SMS with a unique code to the client first, informing him of an upcoming call. The SMS should use the sender ID registered with the Singapore SMS Sender ID Registry so the client can be sure of its authenticity.

Bank staff could then proceed to call, and provide the client with the code first. The client could then be sure that the caller is legitimate, and proceed to give the last four digits of his NRIC for verification.

Sean Goh