Comments on: BofA is on Twitter, So Why Aren’t You?

By: The Financial Brand » Blog Archive » BofA takes Twitter to next level with CRM

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:45:28 +0000

[...] has been helping its customers on Twitter since January, making it the first bank to use the social media tool as a customer service channel. After experimenting with the idea for [...]

By: The Financial Brand » Blog Archive » Petition to verify Twitter accounts for financial firms

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:32:09 +0000

[...] of phishing attacks on financial institutions’ Twitter accounts ever since January, when BofA first started offering customer service via [...]

By: The Financial Brand » Blog Archive » 3 tales of Twitter success

The Financial Brand » Blog Archive » 3 tales of Twitter success — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 20:10:50 +0000

[...] was the first financial institution to provided dedicated customer service on Twitter (@BofA_help). Months after launching the [...]

By: The Financial Brand » Blog Archive » Twitter is white hot in the financial industry

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:21:59 +0000

[...] BofA put one of its employees, David Knapp, on Twitter, it became the first financial institution to use the service specifically for customer service. BofA’s Knapp is now the most active financial institution on Twitter, sending as many as 200 [...]

By: Editor

Editor — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 16:39:03 +0000

Update: Someone spoofs a BofA Twitter account. No real harm done, but an illustration of how serious the problems facing financial institutions on Twitter are.

By: Jeffry Pilcher

Jeffry Pilcher — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 14:15:59 +0000

I ran across these accounts today:
http://twitter.com/bank_of_america
http://twitter.com/citi_bank

Who created them? And why? Are they cybersquatting Twitter names?

By: Jeffry Pilcher

Jeffry Pilcher — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 20:25:05 +0000

I have spoken to BofA’s corporate spokesperson on the phone who has confirmed that BofA_help is an official company contact. This is the only Twitter account BofA has.

Maybe you are saying that unless BofA spells out what accounts are legit and what aren’t (on their website, presumably), then they are opening themselves up for phishing attacks? If that’s the case, then you’re right. It would be important to clarify somewhere on your website what the names are of your official social media channels/representatives.

But even if they spell out what their official Twitter name is, nothing will stop someone from setting up @BofA_helps (added the “s”) and duplicating the graphics. There’s no police for this. Twitter won’t do it, will they? They could, but they’ve got fail whales to slay first, I’m guessing.

Twitter phishing scams are coming…soon. 3… 2… 1…

Should we coin a phrase: “Twishing Scam?”

By: Morriss Partee

Morriss Partee — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 19:47:10 +0000

This is very interesting. Despite the background leg work you did, it seems that BofA did not specifically say what twitter accounts are legit? There’s nothing stopping anyone from creating BofA_MaryJ or BofA_PeterS or any of another million possible plausible-looking names. It’s obvious that BofA needs to make unequivocally clear (on their web site) what/who are legit BofA reps/accounts on twitter. Otherwise, people will be snowed or worse. Bad accounts could go around giving untrue or false advice, or gain consumer confidence to be then exploited in a phishing attack.

By: Jeffry Pilcher

Jeffry Pilcher — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 16:59:56 +0000

You’re right Morriss. The general public has no way of knowing if this is a phishing account. But I have confirmed through 3 separate contacts at BofA corporate that this is indeed an official company initiative, including the person heading up the project (not David).

I also Googled “David Knapp” to see what came up. When I didn’t see anything significant (he used to work for Harris Bank I guess), I started wondering if the Twitter account was legit. But when you look at how many people BofA_help has actually helped, it seems pretty clear it isn’t a scam — too involved, too much work to create dozens of accounts, then fake like you’re helping them.

By: Morriss Partee

Morriss Partee — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 15:35:58 +0000

We really have no way of knowing if BofA_help or David Knapp is actually legit. He is constantly asking people to send him their contact info and he’ll get in touch with them. I’m not saying it is, but this twitter account itself could very well be a phishing scam.

By: Jeffry Pilcher

Jeffry Pilcher — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 20:38:59 +0000

My understanding is that BofA is taking it slowly for now. I don’t think there will be any announcement nor cross-linking to the Twitter account any time in the near future.

I did a Google search to see if anyone, anywhere was linking to the BofA Twitter account yet… Nope. Nothing.

By: CU Potential

CU Potential — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 20:31:12 +0000

As long as BofA can maintain its Twitter effectiveness and efficiency, which will be no small feat for a bank of their size, it’s a great way to add an additional touch point to their customers.

Does the BofA website list a link to their Twitter account so their customers can verify that they’re really talking to BofA rather than some guy that signed up with that name?