Time to Be Extra Careful With Financial Emails ?

I'm not going to mention any names, but a certain financial institution just sent me an email with this gem of a greeting.



Granted this wasn't a bank, but it wasn't your neighborhood liquor store/check cashing place either, the place is pretty well known.

From the looks of it someone just escaped the % characters when they shouldn't have which is a common mistake, but a financial institution letting a blunder of an email like this get sent ?
Where is the proof reading ?

I can't help but wonder if with all the stuff happening with banks right now, whether they're cutting back on IT staff or cutting out some seemingly worthless things like proof reading in order to look responsible enough on the books to get a government bail out.

Realistically though, cutting back is only making matters worse if the email I got is the result.
What would have happened if that un-proof-read email accidentally included something it shouldn't have ?

Very true. I just got a replacement VISA check card because my bank said it was part of a list of CC Numbers that were stolen.

I love your tagline by the way: "The squeaky wheel gets the grease, but the whining wheel gets replaced."

Perhaps this was an isolated case of the stupids and not a direct consequence of the cut backs? It might be the most obvious culprit, but until a pattern of incompetence emerges, it's hard to lay the blame on something (an event) rather than on someone (he-who-did-not-proof-read-in-the-first-place).

Besides it has been said that "artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity". No contest.

— Möe

That's, kinda why I'm asking around.

Oh...

Well in my neck of the woods there haven't been any cases of this nature reported yet... probably because the level of sophistication doesn't allow for a mix-up of this nature.

Most banking and financial transactions are still handled face-to-face. Despite offers of "cyber-banking", it doesn't really work when more than 70% (WAG*) of the populace isn't even online.

— Möe



*wild-arsed-guesstimation