Caution on giving out Phone Number when filling out forms

[AEA]

If you are like me, you probably buy some stuff online. When I use eBay, it is not a problem, but, be VERY CAREFUL when you go to a Site and have to fill out an order form that includes your putting in your phone number. YOu will want to put in a BOGUS phone number and also use an alternate email address that you don't mind getting spam in.

Here's what happened to me:
I only have a Cell phone.......no landline.

I got an IM on my Cell a week or so ago from some unknown female that offered me to go to her website and "check her out". Of course the website was a combined sex site for all sorts of things.........

This IM cost me .25 to receive.

Today I get a Voice Call from some guy (and greeting me with my NAME) asking if I wanted a free trip to Branson, MO.

This call cost me a loss of minutes on my Cell plan.

I did a reverse lookup of the number that he called me from and found it to be a Resort company in MO and I went to their website. I chatted live on their website and found out that they in fact buy bulk marketing numbers from several companies. I told them that they should reconsider their marketing technique's......

So, bottom line is, at least one site where I have inserted a phone number for an order is harvesting these numbers and selling them.

I had to call my Cell Provider today and get my number changed!

BEWARE OF SCAMMERS!

[LedJedi]

whoever owns billybob@hotmail.com gets an aweful lot of spam on my behalf as well as whoever has the phone number one digit up from mine.

[Tactical_Texan_CHL]

DANG IT!!!! IT'S BEEN YOU THIS WHOLE TIME!!!! If I get one more dirty e-mail on my billybob@hotmail.com account, I'm going to be very upset!!! Just kidding. I do the same thing with my phone number too, and I have an e-mail on Yahoo just for spam. Sometimes I like to go in there and see just how many there are!

[Piney]

Yahooooo email has a feature that allows you to compose a "temp" email address that ties to your regular account. I use these "fake" addresses until they start getting spam, then remove them.

Somthing to consider, eh ?

[Sarah81]

Just give out a pay phone number. (Google search brings up a few online directories of pay phone numbers.) That way, the guy with the next-highest telephone number doesn't get a ton of telemarketing and scam calls.

Firefox has at least one extension/add-on that lets you create a free, temporary e-mail address for online signups and other things that are guaranteed to end in spam. :)

[jimlongley]

I just block all unidentified calls, "private", "unknown number" and record the rest (caller id on my computer) for future reference if needed.

A few years back, well more than just a few, when my wife and I had just moved into a new house, we were receiving the usual spate of calls from telemarketers, including life insurance companies. One insurance salesman didn't like my response to his call, and he and his buddies in the insurance office, of a major ins. company by the way, decided that making a bunch of harassing calls to my home might be fun.

Seems as though these guys had never heard of caller id, which WAS brand new at the time, and also didn't know that it was legal for me to record the harassing calls. The main perp was arrested, fired, and convicted, and as a result lost his license to sell insurance - what a shame.

I do trace calls, and do file and follow up on complaints, and it's really amazing to me how few calls I receive these days, I must be on someone's lists somewhere.

I also have influenced my wife's doctor to change her policy. The doctor's office makes calls to remind people of appointments, tell them of test results, etc, and has always used a blocked number. Recently the Dr. complained to my wife that her reminder calls were (still) being blocked at our number.

My wife suggested that she unblock her number, and the Dr. said it was because she didn't want people calling in on what is her outgoing line, she wants them to always go through her own call screening system. My wife's response (ever my suppoerter) was that since the Dr. was calling known patients, all she had to do was avail herself of other options available from the telco, and avoid the ebarrasment of being blocked. The Dr.'s number now comes up on her reminder and follow up calls.

Not giving out my number would spoil half my fun.

[nitrogen]

TIP: Fake email addresses arent as good of an idea as you think.
Imagine this scenerio:

You construct a fake email address: "dontcare@dontknow.org"
You sign up for a web forum with that email address.

Someone actually owns dontknow.org, its a friend of mine. He can set up an email account, get your password reset, and get the new password sent to him! He gets tons of these daily.

If you're going to use fake email addresses for what ever reason, use @example.com.

That specific address was set up by the "internet dieties" for that specific purpose. That way you won't be sending possibly secret information to someone you don't know.

[propellerhead]

asdf@asdf.com gets a whole bunch too!

[Liberty]

TIP: Fake email addresses arent as good of an idea as you think.
Imagine this scenerio:

You construct a fake email address: "dontcare@dontknow.org"
You sign up for a web forum with that email address.

Someone actually owns dontknow.org, its a friend of mine. He can set up an email account, get your password reset, and get the new password sent to him! He gets tons of these daily.

If you're going to use fake email addresses for what ever reason, use @example.com.

That specific address was set up by the "internet dieties" for that specific purpose. That way you won't be sending possibly secret information to someone you don't know.

I have actually done that. People keep using my gmail address as a dump account. I have reset all kinds of passwords. I don't feel the least bit guilty about it either, folks who try to hijack email accounts are even lower than the spammers they are trying to avoid.

[AEA]

I ended up reporting the call (I had the number on caller ID on my Cell) to the FCC. I also had the guy's name and the name of the Company which I reported.

[Xander]

Another email trick, for sites that you actually need to get a one-time email from (if they're going to require you to click a registration link from a confirmation email, for instance) is http://mailinator.com/. You don't even need to go there to create an account first. Just use yourname@mailinator.com, or any other random address, say, assad9qrqrjqf9hq4fi4q4jqf994@mailinator.com, click submit, and then mosey on over to the mailinator website, enter the email address that you used in the form on the front page, and it'll take you straight to an inbox for that account.

You wouldn't want to use it for emails that might contain personal information, of course, but it works great for annoying sites that require a valid email address for whatever silly service they're offering, just so they can spam you later.

[kidder014]

One thing I recommend, since we are on the topic, is to sign up for a gmail or yahoo email address that will be used only for these scenerios. This is what I call the "junk email account". Always use that account when giving out your email address to anyone or any website you don't know.

Also, make sure that account's password is something different from any other password you may use. That way, you can give that account out, and if the forum requires email verification (such as this forum does) you can still log into that account and complete the verification. Just don't ever use that account for any "legitimate" purpose, and you never have to check it, except in instances where you are "verifying" your address. For example, my junk account is kidder014@yahoo.com and I don't mind posting it for everyone, and every search engine bot to see... but don't try contacting me on that account, I never check it. (If you do this, be sure to log into the account at least once a month or so, just so it doesn't get closed for inactivity, yahoo is famous for that)

Another trick I can mention is when you are filling out a form online, or signing up for anything that includes your email address or your mailing address, you can give yourself a middle initial or a variant of your name that identifies the company or website you are giving it to. For example, if my name is Bob Smith and I'm signing up on texaschlforum.com, I might list my name as C.H. Smith, or Bob T Smichl, or anything that will give me a reminder of the company or website I used that name for. Then, when I start to receive spam emails addressed to C.H. Smith or junk mail in the mailbox for Bob T Smichl, I will know real quick where that SPAMMER got my information from. (Not that texaschlforum.com would be the best example for this scenerio, but still)

As far as phone numbers go, if you are lucky enough to sign up for a grandcentral.com account, this can help solve the phone call issue as well. Unfortunately, Google still has this service on an "invite only" registration, and I do not have any "invites" available on my account. If you can find someone who can invite you into the service, go for it. It's free and can give you a lot of control over incoming calls.