Capital One 360 Accuses Me Of Phishing, Shuts My Site Down, Then Apologizes… Kind Of

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MyMoneyBlog.com was unceremoniously shut down this morning by Capital One 360 and RSA Security when they sent a long, scary e-mail to my web hosting provider accusing me of phishing.

The page, now still removed just in case, involved Capital One 360’s person-to-person referrals, which Capital One 360 offers users in order to promote it’s banking service. One user refers another user, and if a new user opens an account, both get a cash bonus. My page was a simple page where other readers could post up their referral links, and have another person come by and claim the other end of the bonus. Win-win, right?

I should also mention that this specific page has been up for about 4 years, with not a peep from them. I can confidently say over 1,000 people have gotten a new account at Capital One 360 through this page.

Was there an warning e-mail saying “Hey Jon, this page angers us.” or “Hey Jon, remove this page or we’ll shut your site down with our big bad lawyers.”? Nope.

Finally, all of the links directly go to a Capital One 360 page. There is no link on mymoneyblog.com that asks for any Capital One 360 user information, least of which full name or login credentials, nor had there ever been. Their accusation is like Bank of America accusing me of phishing when I link to a $100 account bonus that they’re offering at bankofamerica.com. (Don’t get any ideas, BofA!)

I’m also kind of disappointed with my web host, LiquidWeb. You’d think if I buy a dedicated server from them, I’d at least get a phone call before having everything shut down.

Conclusion. I called RSA Security directly to get this all straightened out. After checking their records, they said (over the phone, I’m paraphrasing somewhat) “There was a misunderstanding with Capital One 360. They first contacted us to shut down your site. Then they realized you work with them as an authorized partner. So a few hours later they told us never mind. Everything is okay. You don’t have to take down anything. We apologize on behalf of Capital One 360.”

Of course, neither my web provider nor myself got this “all clear” e-mail. Capital One 360 still acted like a big faceless corporation, and I haven’t yet received any apology from them directly. Being just a little peon, I’m just happy my entire site wasn’t shut down further because of this. Now please excuse me while I throw up from all the stress…

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Comments

  1. It’s ironic that the Google provided Ad at the bottom of the post I received was for an ING Direct Sharebuilder account….

  2. Okay, was I the only one that sat with their mouth agape when I saw that this blog had been shut down? I’m glad that you’re back. Hey ING, next time you accuse someone of phishing, make sure they’re not actually sending you thousands of legitimate customers that bring you new business!

  3. As desperate as banks are to attracting new funds this seems like a very stupid course of action for ING. or any other bank for that matter. This a prime market for banks to make money in providing they are lending it out. The world of banking is just too tough with competition these days, I would think they would be sending you a gift certificate for making it easy for potenial customers to link easily to their site. Good luck!

  4. That’s totally lame. Bad move on ING’s part, for sure. For a company that normally has decent customer service, you’d think they would be 100% sure in what they were saying before going to such lengths.

    And shame on your webhost, too. Shutting down your site without asking you about it first? Horrible customer service.

  5. I’m glad you were able to get the site back up and running. Maybe it’s time to drop ING from all of your pages and start looking for a more communicative web hoster…

  6. BibleDebt says

    Unfortunate and surprising considering all of the praises I have heard for ING Direct over the years. Associating with BofA is not giving me any confidence!

  7. I agree with shub. You should remove ING reference on your site until they apologize for the incident.

    I have to say I am a bit surprised that all it takes for them to shutdown the site was to contact your provider. Providers need to do a better job at preserving an individual’s work.

  8. That is lame. But it does look like an honest mistake on INGs part and they corrected their error fairly quickly (for a bank). I’d blame your web host too for having a hair trigger on something obviously not phishing and shutting down your site with apparently no questions asked.

  9. What do these people think? A simple access to your page should tell them what this site is about. Also shame on your ISP provider.

    let us know if ING apologizes. If not, I am not doing business with them.

  10. rubin pham says

    i visited your site this morning and it said “this site was suspended”.
    i was very suprised given the fact this blog was one of the best financial blog out there.
    anyway i am glad you are back.

  11. ING Direct and RSA Security are the bad guys here. Both of them failed to properly research the site *before* taking action and neither was proactive in resolving the problem or apologizing.

    LiquidWeb may not have had much choice in the matter. Failing to act may have exposed them to liability.

    That said, I would definitely find out EXACTLY what happened. I’d request copies of all correspondence sent to the webhost from ING Direct and RSA Security. And I’d definitely let LiquidWeb know that regardless I expect better communication from them in the future.

  12. web host is probably accustomed to the accusations being accurate……..errors are ok if they fix and acknowledge….. so i sent an email to ING saying that as much as they spend on advertising, a couple minutes sending a “sorry dude, my bad” email shouldn’t be a big deal. i’m sure they have a file for emails like mine, ha.

  13. I’m sure Liquidweb acted to cover themselves. But if they called me, I would have taken down the page instantly, and everything could have gone on undisturbed. I simply don’t have the resources to fight with ING Direct, I’d roll over faster than you could say “orange savings account”.

    Instead, I had to call them and wait for the exact sys admin to respond back to me, who was already on the phone with another user… etc etc. I also don’t stand around checking my blog every hour of every day (although I do check it a lot). Total downtime: 4-5 hours.

  14. For the benefit of those here who’d like to criticize ING Direct-ly (sorry, couldn’t resist the play on their name), I present some email addresses from their ‘contact us’ page:

    marketing@ingdirect.com,
    mediarelations@ingdirect.com
    ombudsman@ingdirect.com

    This last says :
    “Ombudsman

    If you have complaints or questions that have not been answered to your satisfaction, contact our Ombudsman.
    What is an Ombudsman?

    An Ombudsman is an intermediary between a company and its Customers that aims to investigate and resolve Customer complaints and problems.”

  15. NoMoreWork says

    Hey ING,
    How bout a lil somethin’? You know, for the effort?

    Ridiculous, you drive a healthy amount of business their way.

    Jonathan, Glad to see your back posting substantive info. Hope all is well. That blogroll was having a tough time keeping my interest peaked…

  16. I hope they will apologize or I may find myself moving elsewhere.

    This is my one of my favorite blogs and I have learned a lot from you Jonathan! Keep up the good work!

  17. John Wilks says

    Terribly sorry to hear this Jon. I hope you do get an apology.

    -JW

  18. Mike Panic says

    I read this site every other day or so – it’s on the front page of my iGoogle, and I’ve been banking with ING for years. To make matters worse, I too have web hosting and several blogs and the thought of this happening is just scary. I’ve submitted this story to Consumerist.com – hopefully they can help bring some more attention to this problem.

  19. I’m sorry but NO WHERE in this entire circumstance did ING interact with you directly.

    They had you shut down (ING through RSA through your provider). Don’t blame RSA. Don’t blame the provider. The “big guy” accused you and thus you were guilty.

    They change their mind but don’t tell you. Oh yeah, that’s par for the course!

    There are too many other banking options in this world to disregard poor customer service (or basic communication, for that matter).

    I’d stop the referrals to them.

  20. Wow, that’s disappointing. Bad ING!

  21. that was scary 🙁 having your site down. glad to see it’s back up

  22. By the way if anyone is interested, I have some ING referral links to give out…

  23. Seeing as how bad their savings rate is these days, you’d think they would of asked you to remove your pages about Ally and Alliant banks. Ha. Haven’t had anything in my ING account for at least 3 years. Apologize, ING, or I withdraw my one remaining dollar!

  24. I think that any company big like ING would have different departments that handle different matters, and I’m sure the communication departments is not the strongest.

    The anti-phishing people probably are just sleepy eyed 9-5ers who don’t care much about what they do, and just flagged your website for unknown reason.

    I don’t think they cross check to verify how many legit referrals you’ve sent them.

  25. Money Beagle says

    That sucks. I’ve been an ING customer for a couple of years. I took down advertising on my site for awhile and have been slowly adding it back on and was considering re-adding my ING links, but this makes me re-consider.

  26. That’s totally very frustrating to say the least. I can see this blog is very popular and the least they can do is to maybe email you and wait for 24 hours.

    Besides can’t they see you are giving them customers and free advertisement? They should be paying you instead. Well FV(K them!

    Let’s spread the word…ING people are idiots!

  27. Time to boycott ING?
    let’s start moving money to other banks – and ING rates are not the best anyway.
    Lesson: do not help corporations if you were not benefiting directly.

  28. Glad to see you are back up. Sorry for the trouble you had to endure. And thanks again for providing a great blog.

  29. I think there is only one serious question here: are you willing to stop all mention of ING and remove their ads? Or do you need their affiliate dollars? Tough call. They are idiots, and should formally apologize.

    Stressed enough to throw up, but still gotta make an income. Hey, sounds like the typical american worker!! 🙂

  30. About a decade ago (1999), I ran a successful website that served to educate young investors about the stock market (I, myself, was a 16-year-old investor). Apparently, a large investment company with billions in AUM had trademarked the name in 1983 (back when trademarks were still good for 20 years; now it’s just 10 years) for their long-defunct newsletter. I still can’t believe they were awarded a trademark for it because the name/phrase was so common.

    Their lawyers sent a cease and desist letter and demanded for me to turn over my domain name. I hired legal representation and after about 3 months and thousands of dollars in legal bills, I finally acquiesced. They took my website and the tens of thousands of visitors that read it.

    The funny (albeit, sad) thing is that I heard 2-3 years later, they didn’t renew the domain name and some domain squatter scooped it up.

  31. INGDirect is angry because almost all the users signed up thru this site are no longer active.

  32. By the way, sue INGDirect for the 4-5 hours loss of use in this site. You can take that to a small claim court.

  33. Mississippi Mike says

    Sorry about your ING problems Jon.

    What is the bottom line? The bottom line is that ING initiated this and they are responsible for the way they behave. Why dont you write a polite but formal letter asking them to explain their behavor. You could end the letter with something along the lines of “Your response will be helpful in determining what further action will be taken regarding this issue”.

    If you decide to send any type of letter, it is very important that you first find out the name and mailing address of the CEO of ING. At the bottom of the letter you then CC a copy to him. Getting his information is very easy to get.

    Yes I have done this before. With B of A as a matter of fact, and my response was immediate and fully resolved in a good way. I scared the bejeebers out of someone at Bof A.

    Best wishes and good luck.

  34. Zgirl1999 says

    ING Direct accused me of fraud about 5 years ago and closed all my accounts. Later they found out it was a mistake and appologized. I’ve decided not to do business with them anymore and let them send me a check for the balance they owed me.

    Jonathan, If I would be you I would stop advertising ING and get a dedicated server at another webhosting company.

  35. ING closed out my savings account a couple years back without informing me either. I called customer service because I never intended to close the account and was considering opening a CD there. The representative HUNG UP ON ME after indicating that, due to inactivity, I was not the sort of customer they were looking for.

    I sent a message to their ombudsman about (1) not wanting to close the account and (2) having the CSR hang up on me. She was apologetic and said I had received poor support, but they didn’t reopen my account either.

    The service from ING is bottom of the barrel, and comes close to Chase in poor quality. Avoid both.

  36. Mississippi Mike says

    I have the contact information for the CEO and CFO of ING. ING has its headquarters in England. I did not know that.

    Anyway let me know if you want me to post the info.

  37. Simply put, it will be ING’s loss if you (wisely) cease from linking to them ever again.

  38. Just terrible.

  39. ING claims to be the friend of the consumer, etc., but let’s face it: They’re one of the biggest banks in the world, and they probably do this type of corporate bullying all the time. I’ve had an ING savings account for years (and use to have a mortgage with them, too), but the bloom is off the rose. Time for me to move to a friendlier institution.

  40. Anita Graf says

    I ADORE your website!! And I really thank you for all the good leads you have put me on. I have an account with ING right now, thanks to you. This makes me want to cancel it. If I find the time, I probably will. There are better deals out there anyway. If there is any place for comments, you can be sure I will tell them that I’m moving my money (not an insignificant amount) because they messed with MY Blog Guy!! Hmmph! I hope you’re over your stress by now, btw.

  41. It is good thing that you’re back and running.

    thanks for the share.

  42. Ha, I pulled my money out of ING about a month ago – their rates are practically as bad as putting your dinero under the mattress. I left the account open (just in case they came to their senses), but forget that. I’m definitely gone now!

  43. I would guess the ING error was caused by their computer system. This seems to be happening more and more across all businesses and I find I’m spending more and more time correcting errors of all kinds.

    In your case, you were fortunate to have the problem resolved so quickly.

    Moral: We’ve got to stay on our toes every blasted minute.

  44. That’s terrible. I am glad it’s all straightened out.

  45. The Frugal Immigrant says

    The power corporations have over the world affairs is enormous.
    I can only hope people eventually wizen up and shift their purchasing and investing even more towards smaller, nimbler, mostly local companies, which provide targeted services to their customers.
    With all that said when it comes to banking I’ve always preferred credit unions as opposed to big banks, especially for mortgages and business loans for example.

    ING Direct acted as any big corporation does – bullying their way around when they thought was needed. If I was you I’d write the CEO directly explaining WHY such “security” practices will only lead to more bad publicity – something any corporation is afraid of. Maybe the IT director needs to revisit their security practices and make some changes if they want to avoid angering their customers even more.

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