A routine password reset escalated Tuesday morning when a multi-factor authentication prompt required a local man to recall the specific details of a nonexistent entity.
While attempting to reset his online banking password from an unrecognized device Tuesday, 34-year-old David Hensley reported that a Bank of America security protocol required him to input the exact spelling of his childhood imaginary friend.
Hensley stated he was initially presented with standard verification options, including his mother's maiden name and the make of his first car, before the identity management system refreshed and demanded the full legal name of the invisible entity he conversed with behind the living room sofa between the ages of four and seven. According to screenshots of the recovery portal, the bank also offered a secondary dropdown option asking the user to confirm the imaginary companion's primary grievance with his parents.
We found that traditional data points like high school mascots are easily scraped from public records, whereas a seven-foot phantom iguana named Sir Bartholomew exists only in the most inaccessible, heavily repressed recesses of a client's early psyche.
At press time, Hensley remained permanently locked out of his checking account after three failed attempts, having received an automated email warning him that the name "Bongo" did not match the bank's records, which indicated his invisible companion was a licensed medical doctor.