Big Brother!

[Midpack]

I worry about identity theft/privacy, and I share as little info online as possible. There are services I’ve refused to do business with because they wanted too much info - unnecessary IMO. Last week I had a troubling experience.

I called and made a dinner reservation. They asked for my phone number which I begrudgingly gave. Within seconds, she said, Joe Midpack? - with my actual first and last name!!! After I hung up I told DW I was a little spooked. A few minutes later, I got an email confirming our reservation!

I’m bewildered and disappointed they instantly had my name and email address from my phone number.

 

[REWahoo]

Abandon all hope ye who enter the digital world

 

[Rianne]

Ha! Just google your name. My DH picture and a bunch of information is right there! Then go to white pages...every city we've lived in the past 20 years there, the companies, address. Then, pay a few bucks and get entire history!


Edit: I just googled my eldest DB and found his age. I wasn't sure before, now i know.

 

[aja8888]

I’m bewildered and disappointed they instantly had my name and email address from my phone number.

In this day and age of selling personal info (and big hacks), this should come as a surprise.

 

[braumeister]

They asked for my phone number which I begrudgingly gave.

My standard answer is "It's unlisted."
That almost always stops the process.

 

[Rianne]

My standard answer is "It's unlisted."
That almost always stops the process.

You mean the restaurants process. It's out there. We changed our phone number due to spoofing. Our old number still there, but it won't be long.

 

[poorcarver]

In our area, when you place a call for say a delivery or a service, they are looking at the number you called in on and will say is this the number where you wish to be reached? If I am requesting a service or delivery, obviously my address is provided, and once they have that, they say my name. At some level concerning and at some level convenient. Address registries with resident listed have existed for a long time, this is the same thing, digitized.

 

[target2019]

Google your phone number. Shocking, I say.

Because of OPM breach, much more of my info is in the hands of world-wide criminals. Not so worried about the pizza guy down the street.

 

[easysurfer]

Had a couple of incidents over the past few months.

I ordered something and the place I ordered from called my home number for one of those customer satsifaction surveys. But...I never gave out my home number.

Another time, and a bit more creepy, was calling a taxi from the airport. The airport taxi stand isn't too organized so I called and looked around for the darn taxi but either the taxi missed me or the I missed the taxi so I called again. After about 30 more minutes this guy drives up in an unmarked car. He knows my name. Says the taxi company and uber have an agreement and he is doing uber. This was before the tragedy of the student mistakenly getting into a car thinking it was an uber. I did the same, got in. The driver was legit but I was a bit creeped out at the time. The taxi company must have recognized me from previous times.

 

[ls99]

If I'd relly wanted to find out my life's history, I'd search online. I am sure there is far more info out there than I can remember. Or care to.

Though all info stops in 1965, when I arrived in the US as a legal immigrant. A few amateur geneologists tried but failed.

My standard answers to about my phone #, unlisted.

 

[steelyman]

I described a situation in the “Baseball 2019” thread where my phone number was given (by me) to a shipper who delivered an item to me that I ordered from a merchant who turned out to be a phone/email spammer trying to sell more stuff. He has my name, email, address of course from the transaction.

I think I may have finally stopped it but it went all the way to a complaint to the Federal Trade Commission (aside: my first attempt to contact the FTC couldn’t go through due to the government shutdown).

 

[CDRE]

It can be like a game of whack-a-mole, but you can take free steps towards security and limiting the dissemination of your personal information. Start with freezing and/or opting out, beginning here:

http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f47/faq-identity-theft-online-security-privacy-76730.html

Then continue the process by following these sites:
https://www.komando.com/tips/548938/run-a-comprehensive-background-check-on-yourself

https://joindeleteme.com/help/diy-free-opt-out-guide/


https://census-info.us/privacy


Before commencing the game, a quick search would return a google map of the house, phone numbers, address, including information for family members. Now, nothing is returned. I verify every few months and rarely does anything else pop up.

 

[travelover]

I got divorced almost 20 years ago and have moved multiple times in the interim. Every week I get "junk mail" addressed to my ex at my current address.

 

[Sunset]

I worry about identity theft/privacy, and I share as little info online as possible. There are services I’ve refused to do business with because they wanted too much info - unnecessary IMO. Last week I had a troubling experience.

I called and made a dinner reservation. They asked for my phone number which I begrudgingly gave. Within seconds, she said, Joe Midpack? - with my actual first and last name!!! After I hung up I told DW I was a little spooked. A few minutes later, I got an email confirming our reservation!

I’m bewildered and disappointed they instantly had my name and email address from my phone number.

Have you ever filled out a contest form, or ordered a magazine, or bought phone service ?
Once you give out this information, it is sold along with lots of other peoples for all sorts of purposes.

Some purposes like the restaurant, 911 are good and useful. How do you think 911 can send cops to the address even if you drop the phone ?

 

[SecondCor521]

The strangest one for me was when LinkedIn suggested a contact who I recognized as a woman with whom I had one date via OKCupid. How'd that connection happen? (Yeah, I figure OKCupid sold the data to LinkedIn. Not happy about that.)

 

[GrayHare]

For entertainment as much as security, one can always pollute the database with incorrect personal data. It's legal provided you do not do so for fraudulent purposes.

 

[Jerry1]

What I don’t like is the interconnectedness of my computers. I have a iPad and a Win 10 machine. I surf for a new tire on my iPad, which does not have Facebook on it. And then I go to my Win machine and there are ads fore tires, including in my Facebook stream. Not just basic tire ads, but ads mentioning the same tire I was searching for. But what I really wish is that they’d figure out a way to know that I’ve already bought the tire and do not want to see tire ads any longer, which I didn’t even want in the first place.

The other thing that drives me nuts is the credit collectors. DD had a problem awhile back. Her last name was the same as mine and she lived with me at that time. Now she’s married with different name and a different address (yay!). Yet even after I’ve moved from the address where she lived with us, I get a letter addressed to her with her married name to our new address.

I’ve given up. You’d have to completely unplug to get back to being anonymous and that may not even work.

 

[Souschef]

I googled my name on one site, and it came back that I was single, my salary was $40 K and my net worth was about $50 K.
I love it! That was nobody is going to cold call me to sell me insurance or investments.
P.S. I am married, and retired

 

[Midpack]

Google your phone number. Shocking, I say.

Because of OPM breach, much more of my info is in the hands of world-wide criminals. Not so worried about the pizza guy down the street.

When I search on my name or phone number, mostly I get hits from sites that’ll give more info for a fee, and I assume no restaurant or most people wouldn’t pay. But occasionally I will see my name, phone number or address on unpaid sites, but never my email address too - that was a first. We’re moving as soon as possible, so hopefully they’ll have my name and address data wrong for a long while...

 

[Rianne]

I googled my name on one site, and it came back that I was single, my salary was $40 K and my net worth was about $50 K.
I love it! That was nobody is going to cold call me to sell me insurance or investments.
P.S. I am married, and retired

You're lucky someone else has your name. Our name is pretty ethnic and not too many out there.

 

[Out of Steam]

You're lucky someone else has your name. Our name is pretty ethnic and not too many out there.

There are advantages to having a common name.

 

[target2019]

When I search on my name or phone number, mostly I get hits from sites that’ll give more info for a fee, and I assume no restaurant or most people wouldn’t pay. But occasionally I will see my name, phone number or address on unpaid sites, but never my email address too - that was a first. We’re moving as soon as possible, so hopefully they’ll have my name and address data wrong for a long while...

As this is written, it sounds like you're moving because someone emailed you.

 

[ChiliPepr]

The strangest one for me was when LinkedIn suggested a contact who I recognized as a woman with whom I had one date via OKCupid. How'd that connection happen? (Yeah, I figure OKCupid sold the data to LinkedIn. Not happy about that.)

Well, LinkedIn also matches email addresses. If you ever emailed this woman and she connected her email account with LinkedIn, this is probably how the match was made.

 

[SecondCor521]

Well, LinkedIn also matches email addresses. If you ever emailed this woman and she connected her email account with LinkedIn, this is probably how the match was made.

I didn't. I only used the message service through OKCupid.

 

[robnplunder]

Abandon all hope ye who enter the digital world

+1. Digital world didn't come without risks, hazards, stupidity, etc.. I know b/c I worked 30 years in the IT industry. Then again, we human beings have a knack for creating things with double edge.