Due to our ongoing discussions here about security issues, and about the spammers and scammers and hacking we have talked about lately here on this forum, this following news would probably have made me laugh, were it not so sad for me. And had it not hit me quite squarely on the chin when I least expected such a hit.
It seems that I am in process of being booted off the Etsy platform because I refuse to comply with the new way Etsy will be handling payments to Etsy sellers.
I was going to post my entire whine on here, but I'm guessing that you ladies probably grow weary of hearing me whine all of the time, so if you wish to read the full, hair-on-fire, version, it is posted here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/thestonewind/?etsrc=sdt
Scroll down a bit to where it says "Dear Clients and Friends".
The gist is this: in order to get paid for my jewelry sales going forward, I am being required to "register" with a third-party vendor (previous to this, Etsy has done the payment processing).
As part of this "registration" I am being required to provide to this new vendor my personal bank account number associated with my Etsy account, my personal (i.e., secret) log-in to this account, and my personal (i.e., secret) password to this account.
I guess the thing that bothers me the most is when an "entity" has your personal log-in and personal password to your personal bank account, the bank sees whoever-is-logging-in as you.
Worst case scenario is that this entity (since, again, the bank recognizes them as you, because the entity has your log-in and password credentials) has the ability to instantly transfer all of the funds within your bank account. . . um, elsewhere.
Leaving me with no recourse to regain my vanished funds whatsoever, because I have not followed my bank's specific banking rules NOT to reveal my log-in and password information to anyone.
(Another of the "kickers" here is that once you grant access to one account, you have also automatically granted access to ALL of the accounts you may have at that particular banking institution - so all of your money, in all of your accounts, can instantly go "poof"). . .
And a final, MAJOR kicker. . . this new vendor has recently settled a fifty-eight-million dollar lawsuit settlement for misusing and/or selling client information. Don't take my word for this - do a Google search on a "financial services" company called Plaid, you will easily find what I am talking about.
Last time I looked, no one, and certainly no large company (particularly one with 58 mil in spare change in their hip pocket), will EVER settle a multi-million dollar lawsuit that they have even the faintest hope of winning.
Looks like I may be done with jewelry-making. At least for a while.
Thanks for listening.
Anne
It almost sounds like a scam itself! Sounds very fishy! I wonder how many other people will refuse to do that too? People are very careful about scams and giving out personal information these days. 
