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Pretext phone calling leads to identity theft and
causes extensive damage to customer relationships. With the enactment
of GLBA, Congress made pretext phone calling (or "pretexting")
a federal crime with substantial fines and prison sentences.
Awareness of the dangers associated with pretext
phone calling has been growing for many years. Even before GLBA,
for example, the federal bank regulatory agencies provided an alert
to bankers on the hazards of pretext phone calling. The bank regulators
warned that institutions that disclose customers' account information
to pretext phone callers may be violating state privacy laws. This
regulatory alert covered incidents that might occur through illegal
or unauthorized access to the institution's computer systems, and
encouraged companies to have procedures and controls in place to
monitor and limit access to confidential information on a need to
know basis.
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