W&C asking for bank details via email

Ablrate did the same. I phoned. I agree with you. Not something I would be happy doing

If the email really is from them and you use contact details you already know then it's not a direct security threat to your money. I'm content to send such details in email provided I can independently verify that the place (email or web site) I'm sending them to is genuine.

However, it is poor practice because by doing this they are training their customers to respond to such emails, yet would presumably not want to accept the cost of future fraud losses when the customer reacts as they have trained them and sends the information to a fraudster pretending to be a legitimate institution. That's bad for their customers and teh UK financial sector in general because we need customers trained not to respond to such emails except via methods not contained in the email.

It's good that they have offered a phone alternative, at lest if that phone number is one already published and not one just contained in the email. If it's just in the email then again it is educating their customers to respond to fraudulent emails in a risky way.

Well, maybe. It depends in part on whether the sending and receiving email servers are configured to use encrypted transfers between them. This is possible and I see that its use seems to be growing in the financial world.

Without such settings being in place and working the chain of mail servers and internet connections that could potentially compromise the contents of an unencrypted email can be large, not least including the intelligence service of countries the email is passing through that probably have interception tools in place at or adjacent to major internet interconnection exchanges that will scan its contents to look for potentially useful commercial and other intelligence. Even sending to receiving encryption isn't a sure prevention if the objective is to prevent government interception, of course, but at least it'll protect against most criminal groups. On the other hand, a really major internet mail provider like say Google, might have no intermediate email servers and may use its own dedicated and encrypted network to get the email close to the destination server.

Of course there are limits on what I'll send by email because I do know of a wide range of interception methods.

It's funny how this subject rarely if ever came up when we were (and still are, though not as much) sending cheques in the post which contain all those details, plus a signature, plus it should have a return address on the back. Also, you don't have to prove anything to be covered by the direct debit guarantee scheme. You say you didn't authorise it, you get it back, period. 

At the end of the day you can assign a certain amount of risk to all methods of getting paid, but giving your basic account details so people can pay you money is safe by any reasonable standard. DD fraud does happen but despite what some might tell you, it's not that common despite literally millions of account numbers and sort codes being available via a simple google search. In the unlikely event it did happen, you are covered.

To be honest, this whole UK "private" bank details stuff has been driving me up the wall for years. The number of times I have been greeted with suspicion and downright hostility simply for asking for the details I need in order to pay has been astonishing. I have even had suppliers advised BY THEIR BANK to refuse to give their IBAN and BIC codes to me when the ONLY purpose of the code is to give to people so they can pay you!

I have even seen continental eBay buyers given negative feedback simply for asking for bank details. It is a mystery in these parts as to how you can even function while keeping basic bank details secret. In fact I would prove my point (and have in the past) by posting my own bank details here. The only reason I wont is a mod is likely to consider I have posted private information (it's not) and that if somebody is determined to make mischief to prove a point, they possibly will.

But can you steal from me via my account number and sort code? No chance. The private bank details thing in the UK is massively over blown.

yorkshireman does your comment apply to your family member sending bank details to Wellesley & Co?

yorkshireman please DM me if you would like us to investigate also.

I think jeremy Clarkson published his bank details once, making a similar point- a few days later somebody had managed to get him signed up to pay regular sums to some charity (something like that)