Why Gerry the Builder might just stay away from McDonalds
Posted 16 Apr 2009 in Advertising |
As part of the ‘How things change’ Eurosaver campaign in Ireland, McDonalds’ current radio advert features Gerry the Builder. The advert is a series of voice mails that Gerry the builder is leaving for his client. The first message proclaims that the job is going to come in at double the initial quote, and he won’t be able to do it until 6 months down the line. Another message knocks €200 off the quote, and it proceeds in this fashion to the final message where the desperate builder is outside the woman’s front door begging to start the job right now.
“Funny how some things change” smirks the advert. In a country where unemployment is now at 11% who thought that this represented good humour? Presumably someone who doesn’t have a friend or relative working in construction, conveyancing, architecture or civil engineering to name but a few of the sectors seriously affected by the downturn. Presumably someone who hasn’t had trouble paying their mortgage, keeping up with their car repayments or paying the income levy. Or maybe, just maybe, after the emergency budget, the creative genius behind it is slowly joining the dots and realising that this affects their own pocket very directly.
Bank of Ireland Credit Card Security: FAIL
Posted 10 Apr 2009 in Activate |
I woke up this morning to a text message that had been sent just after midnight. It was sent from a UK number and read
Bank of Ireland CreditCard Security – Please call us asap@ 01 488 5466
Classic phishing scam I thought. I phoned the number to investigate further. The Dublin number transferred me through to a UK call centre, where a lady on the end of the phone wanted to take my credit card numbers. I told her that I was not giving them, that it was an irregular way of contacting people and not secure. I then phoned the telephone number on the back of my credit card to report this scam. I thought it was clever timing , hit people over Easter, Banks will be closed on Monday and phone-lines closed for an extended period, meaning customers can’t double check or phone their local branches.
However, the person I spoke to in Bank of Ireland told me that that’s how the Security Department contact people out of hours – they text them. I was pretty incredulous.
ME: “They text customers, and ask them to phone a number that is not published anywhere, that diverts them to a UK number whereby they are asked to give all their credit card details over the phone”
BOI: “Yes”
ME: “Is that not exactly how phishing scams operate, is that not exactly the sort of communication you are forever impressing upon customers not to respond to?”
BOI: “You could always phone the number on the back of your card”
ME: “It was an unpublished number given in the text”
BOI: “You can mention that to the security dept if you have concerns”
And there you have it. That is how the Bank of Ireland Credit Card Security team operates. Would be really hard for a scammer to emulate that don’t you think.
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