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MollyNew

Allira

Other posters have mentioned that they've been pm'd by some guy (I can't remember his name). Begs the question -why?
Elon Musk. He's going to send me a new car and millions of dollars. I'm still waiting.

I hope you haven't put a deposit down on a superyacht!

😀

I am fairly free with information but I have never revealed any personal information that forms part of any security system. Nor would I give any data over the phone unless I had independently contacted the organisation first.

When we were negotiating a mortgage a couple of years ago, I several times tuned downcalls from the building society granting the mortgage because I wanted to be 100% sure it was them, so I rang them back.

Then there are simple things like not letting any shopping site save any of your details, not registering your credit card with anyone, not banking on your phone, and simply not having a presence on social media. Gransnet and Facebook, are myonly ventures into social media.

I just googled myself and apart from some references to my official position in a special interest group and DS acknowledging assistance fron DD and I in one of his academic articles, that was it.

There is probably more if you really mined the data, but I doubt any of it is personal.

I am very aware that all of us have a weak spot if a scammer can find it and I remain vigilent, but I rarely ever get scam calls or emails these days. In fact apart from an occasional romance approach on GN, I cannot remember when anyone last made any attempt to scam me.

Graphite and TheatreLover* It’s good to know myself and the other wary Gransnetters are preaching to the converted.

Graphite I bow to your technical knowledge, we do have to be so careful don’t we?

I regularly check to see if my emails have been in a data breach, thankfully I’m OK at the moment but there were 4 in 2024.

Thank you Graphite.

I can see sense in all you say, but TBH all people need to do to combat it is not to answer questions in unsolicited phone calls. My bank (so I presume most or all of them do the same) texts and asks me to call the number on the back of my card if there is an issue. It's only happened once, when I was trying to put through a debit and had missed out the decimal point😳. Luckily the amount was way out of the usual (and I don't keep that kind of money in a current account anyway), but I was pleased they got in touch. I wouldn't have answered questions if they had called me though.

Did you have to dig further to find the more detailed information about you on the dark web? I always use a different email address for online things such as joining forums, and it's not connected to banks, or anything really, but all I found was a list of times when my email or password has been involved in a data breach, which doesn't tell me as much as your search did.

I do understand that someone giving a lot of information might be setting themselves up for trouble, but only if they don't take other precautions. I still think there is more danger from those 'take this quiz to see how intelligent you are' and 'your film star name is the name of your first pet followed by your mother's maiden name - what is it?' things that pop up on FB. I'm always amazed at how many people answer those.

Allira

^Other posters have mentioned that they've been pm'd by some guy (I can't remember his name). Begs the question -why?^
Elon Musk. He's going to send me a new car and millions of dollars. I'm still waiting.

I hope you haven't put a deposit down on a superyacht!

ClicketyClick

There’s sometimes a danger on a forum such as this to think you’re swapping anecdotes with friends in a cafe.

Well said Oreo.

As an example, a regular poster on here has over a number of posts given specific information about their village, house, nearby shopping facilities etc. I have often thought that if someone wanted to, they could build up quite a profile and probably not be too far off the mark. Other posters have mentioned that they've been pm'd by some guy (I can't remember his name). Begs the question -why?

Well I was able to find the house of one of the contributors to this thread on Rightmove without any difficulty largely due to the information she shared when it was on the market.
Very nice it was too.

In reply to Doodledog’s post at 10:40.

My personal details on the dark web included those from a defunct discussion forum which revealed my name and email address, and those from a small retailer revealing my name, home address, phone number and email address (but not how I paid).

The was nothing there that would allow thieves to carry out a direct financial scam but enough to comprise my security.

You may think you can partially get round this by using another email address for social media but your IP address will link email addresses together. A VPN can give a certain degree of protection but not 100%.

Add this kind of data to what some people reveal about themselves here: who they bank with, their date of birth, what day they go to a named supermarket to do their regular shop (the kind of trivia that’s revealed on the daily GM thread) and you have enough to allow a phone scammer pretending to be your bank to sound convincing.

Mrs XXXX. This is XXX bank. We are concerned that your current account with us may have been compromised. Before we can proceed we need to run through some security questions before we can help you to rectify this.

• Can you state your full address which ends in the postcode AB1 1CC? Thank you.

•Can you confirm your date of birth that ends in 194X? Thank you.

•There is a debit in your account from a large supermarket on XXXX date? Can you confirm the name of the store and how much you spent? An approximate amount will do. Thank you.

You have passed our security checks. (Meaning they now know they have the right person they have targeted for their scam.)

That last question is the kind that is asked by Government Gateway if you don’t have a passport or driver’s licence to use as a security check.

Panicking now but lulled into a false sense of security that this is your bank calling you, you let them guide you though “measures’ to protect your account which results in you being scammed.

On an even more sinister note, the Reform Party are data-scraping social media sites to build profiles. The Good Law Project has taken them to court over this as Reform are refusing to say what data they are holding on individuals.

GLP say: Reform is very open about their goals. Their own privacy policy is clear as day: they want to “create and maintain a profile for every registered voter in the UK”. Not just Reform voters, every voter – and that means you. With the party putting together policies for a future government modelled on ICE in America, that’s a very scary prospect.

Reform has also used a powerful software tool called NationBuilder. That tool can be used to do something called micro-targeting, by scraping social media and commercial databases and building deep profiles of voters. Companies can stalk your internet existence – your Facebook posts, your shopping, your YouTube habit – and then use all that information to stoke division and hate.

goodlawproject.org/update/farages-reform-is-collecting-your-data-heres-why/#:~:text=Reform%20UK's%20privacy%20policy%20states%20that%20they,on%20people%20who%20ask%20to%20see%20it

That's why the latest question from RGI about racial identity is worrying.

Oreo is right. People chat as if they are in a cafe when in fact they are chatting to strangers on a open public forum, giving away information about themselves that anyone using the World Wide Web can see and use.

Sago

M0nica

Macaydia

WHO is this Self-Righteous Thread Killer that condemns OPs and cant afford a joke ???

There was not one but many who get tender about anything seen as a sleight to almost every known human need.

It got so bad that OPs were actually saying in the title of their threads. 'This is a light hearted thread' but to no avail, sooner or later a light hearted thread about filling a paddling pool would be brought down by someone warning about the environment and the waste of water, backed up by someone saying we should remember paddling pools are only for the rich as the poor cannot afford to buy them.

Monica, I think you have taken this out of context.

Nobody is against lighthearted threads, I have started many myself.

This was about warning posters to be careful.

Your reaction to this makes me not want to bother warning anyone again.

I hope that GNetters do continue with their warnings. Some of us are appreciative, so thank you.

Sago

M0nica

Macaydia

WHO is this Self-Righteous Thread Killer that condemns OPs and cant afford a joke ???

There was not one but many who get tender about anything seen as a sleight to almost every known human need.

It got so bad that OPs were actually saying in the title of their threads. 'This is a light hearted thread' but to no avail, sooner or later a light hearted thread about filling a paddling pool would be brought down by someone warning about the environment and the waste of water, backed up by someone saying we should remember paddling pools are only for the rich as the poor cannot afford to buy them.

Monica, I think you have taken this out of context.

Nobody is against lighthearted threads, I have started many myself.

This was about warning posters to be careful.

Your reaction to this makes me not want to bother warning anyone again.

Your reaction to this makes me not want to bother warning anyone again

It seems you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t Sago

(Safe to come out yet, SORES ?)

😅

Other posters have mentioned that they've been pm'd by some guy (I can't remember his name). Begs the question -why?
Elon Musk. He's going to send me a new car and millions of dollars. I'm still waiting.

I know where at least 3 people on this forum live, although I have never met them or exchanged any private messages with them.

There’s sometimes a danger on a forum such as this to think you’re swapping anecdotes with friends in a cafe.

Well said Oreo.

As an example, a regular poster on here has over a number of posts given specific information about their village, house, nearby shopping facilities etc. I have often thought that if someone wanted to, they could build up quite a profile and probably not be too far off the mark. Other posters have mentioned that they've been pm'd by some guy (I can't remember his name). Begs the question -why?

I tried to warn others on the thread about what do you see from your window, probably to no effect.
There’s sometimes a danger on a forum such as this to think you’re swapping anecdotes with friends in a cafe.

sixandahalf

*It’s also unseemly when an older woman behaves like a queening cat*

That's absolutely vile.

She was gullible and lonely and foolish is all. She may - gasp - start clutching pearls - even have sexual feelings. So what?

I find it an appalling way to describe a mature woman from another woman.

But hey? The person who is responsible for starting this. ie the one named in the O/P, why, thats manna from heaven to such a person's ears, isn't it? Why feed their appetites?

sixandahalf

*It’s also unseemly when an older woman behaves like a queening cat*

That's absolutely vile.

Ignore it

We're all a bit old to be giving birth, aren't we!

M0nica

Macaydia

WHO is this Self-Righteous Thread Killer that condemns OPs and cant afford a joke ???

There was not one but many who get tender about anything seen as a sleight to almost every known human need.

It got so bad that OPs were actually saying in the title of their threads. 'This is a light hearted thread' but to no avail, sooner or later a light hearted thread about filling a paddling pool would be brought down by someone warning about the environment and the waste of water, backed up by someone saying we should remember paddling pools are only for the rich as the poor cannot afford to buy them.

Monica, I think you have taken this out of context.

Nobody is against lighthearted threads, I have started many myself.

This was about warning posters to be careful.

Your reaction to this makes me not want to bother warning anyone again.

RosiesMawagain

^Your last instruction is unnecessary and agency denying^
"Agency denying" ?????
Oh blimey!
🎶 "scroll on by, scroll on by" 🎶

if the cap fits, let her wear it… Bob Marley…

sixandahalf

*It’s also unseemly when an older woman behaves like a queening cat*

That's absolutely vile.

yes. but true and lookwhat happened

Macaydia

WHO is this Self-Righteous Thread Killer that condemns OPs and cant afford a joke ???

There was not one but many who get tender about anything seen as a sleight to almost every known human need.

It got so bad that OPs were actually saying in the title of their threads. 'This is a light hearted thread' but to no avail, sooner or later a light hearted thread about filling a paddling pool would be brought down by someone warning about the environment and the waste of water, backed up by someone saying we should remember paddling pools are only for the rich as the poor cannot afford to buy them.

Wow!

Having gone through RGI’s threads it’s very interesting to see how easy it can be to extract information.

For example, from my window I can see one of only two Anglo Saxon Churches in N.Yorkshire and the long queue for the artisan bakery opposite.
My grandparents were born in 1890 and 1894, my Mother was born on the eve of WW1,
If I were to swap personalities with me pet I would be an effervescent Labrador who’s bark is bigger than their bite.
If I were to swap beds with my dog she would be in the kitchen and I would be in the back bedroom.
My ethnicity is white Irish but I am often mistaken for being Eastern European because of my married name.

So OP finds the village/town you live in and possibly the actual house,can gather your approximate age, wether or not you have an aggressive dog and if so where does it sleep and which part of the house do you sleep in.
Yours and possibly your husband’s ethnicity.

It’s also unseemly when an older woman behaves like a queening cat

That's absolutely vile.

I innocently replied to the post .
Now I'm wondering....

Your last instruction is unnecessary and agency denying
"Agency denying" ?????
Oh blimey!
🎶 "scroll on by, scroll on by" 🎶