A British couple who were robbed recently have been refused an insurance payout because they used their dates of birth as Pin numbers for their mobile phones.
The thieves, who also stole their passports, were able to access their bank accounts and plunder them at will.
According to the insurer, a High Street bank, the victims of the robbery “gave” their passwords to the thieves.
It will be surprising if the decision is not reversed by the insurance ombudsman, however, this is a salutary warning about passwords which should not contain dates of birth, addresses, wedding anniversaries or any other date or data which could be obtained from other documentation such as passports, bank statements etc or any other document which could fall into the hands of thieves.
In the example above the thieves entered the couple´s home and stole property which included mobile phones, small IT equipment and passports that obviously provided dates of birth which the couple had used as security pin numbers.
Neither should you keep security codes for banks or pin numbers on your mobile phones and much less on pieces of paper in your wallet or purse. Every password you use should be different and preferably a mix of numbers, capital letters and small letters.
