ING Direct tracking down US Citizens...? [per US law]

IVI on 21/11/2013 - 00:24

A friend got an odd eMail / message (eMail said go look at their message, in the ING Direct customer online context).

I referred to an unnamed US law, listed the attributes of people they were trying to track down & asked those who had one or more of the attributes to make contact or fill out a form [online].

Odd… both generally & since they suggested that it was due to a US law.

First, we learn of USA's NSA snooping about in records of phone calls (even into high levels of gov'ts around the world, eg, Germany's Chancellor)…

Now, some of us are told of their need to obey US law, by tracking down US citizens & related people.

Very odd, ING Direct. Very odd.

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Comments

  • retiredfeline on 21/11/2013 - 01:23
    +5

    Sure this wasn't a phishing email?

    • daewoo on 21/11/2013 - 10:16

      It's real - I've been told so by an ex-INGD employee in the past.

      That said, I would still be cautious and check any email links take you to a HTTPS ingdirect.com.au URL…

  • c64 on 21/11/2013 - 08:08

    US laws have no jurisdiction in australia. ignore it. phishing scam. it is probably targeted at US ingdirect customers.

    look at the email message headers and you can see where the message originated from via the 'Received:' headers. also check for funny fake email addresses.

    if you've filled out details in a form then i think you should consider changing your online banking password using a known-safe computer and notify ingdirect.

    also forward the email to ingdirect. they are probably interested in phishing scams.

  • blitz on 21/11/2013 - 08:49

    US laws have no jurisdiction in australia

    Not quite. If you are a US citizen, regardless of where you are living in the world, you must file annual tax returns and declare personal investments to the IRS.

  • Master Bates on 21/11/2013 - 09:00
    +3

    FATCA is a new US law to combat offshore tax evasion; in a simplistic view this means that all finance companies that want to do business with the USA must declare any US Citizens holding accounts with them. All of the major banks have already or are currently implementing this!

    The best course of action is to call ING using the number on their website and ask them directly. NEVER reply to any email from a finance company or great uncle twice removed that has just left you a share of their estate worth in the region of $750,142 PERIOD.

  • dannyhc on 21/11/2013 - 10:37

    I found a message that I needed to reply to in "My Messages", it was just a Y or N question and as a loyal Austraican I complied with all orders without question.

  • IVI on 21/11/2013 - 15:42

    According to the friend, IN's -eMail- didn't have the message; she had to go to ING Direct's online banking site to read the message ('had to log-in to read it).

    I'd say it's legit.

    Which law is it in compliance of?

    • cwongtech on 21/11/2013 - 17:18

      -Five-Eyes
      -NSA
      -In the interests of "National Security"

      Time to buy some Guy Fawkes masks and set up some bank accounts in the Cayman Islands.

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