When a Stranger Calls, Beware of The Pretext

[mahatmakanejeeves]

When a Stranger Calls, Beware of The Pretext

By Frank Ahrens
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 9, 2006; Page D01

You get a phone call from someone who says they're taking a survey for a reputable sounding research firm. They ask you a few questions that seem relatively harmless -- what's private anymore, anyway, right? -- such as the name of your phone company or investment firm or even the name of your pet.

You may have just been pretexted.
....

What is not in dispute is how easy it is to obtain closely held personal data.

Earlier this year, a blogger paid $89.95 to obtain the records of about 100 cellphone calls made by Ret. Gen. Wesley K. Clark.

Although sites such as Locatecell.com and dozens of others for years advertised phone records for sale, the Clark incident raised the specter of not only major privacy breaches but also potential national security concerns.

The Clark stunt led to a series of hearings on Capitol Hill over the summer, and resulted in House passage of legislation that imposed criminal penalties for accessing consumer phone records through pretexting. Some state legislatures are considering stiffening their own measures to prevent and punish pretexting by companies.
....

[niyad]

1. I NEVER answer any kind of survey or give ANY information by phone

I tell the caller so, and hang up. Unless it's a political survey, in which case I demand to know for whom the poll is being conducted. generally, the caller does not know, at which point I inform the person that, since it's probably some reich-wing group, I absolutely will not answer.

the docile giving over of personal information to complete strangers always bemuses me. years ago, I was in a pier 1, and they wanted my zip code, which I refused to give. I pointed out that I was paying cash for the item, and consequently, they needed none of my information. the people in line behind me questioned me, and I explained that, as far as I was concerned, it was just one step in a softening-up process, accustoming people to handing over all sorts of personal information, until we finally arrive at "where are your papers?" without a whimper. several of the people behind me followed my example. a small victory, but it made me feel good.

[Gormy Cuss]

2. The zip code thing is relatively benign with a cash sale.

It's used to track the range of their customer based and is used to define potential new store locations. I respond but I state one of the adjacent zips instead of my own.

I shake my head at the way customers give addresses and phone numbers when buying with cash or a credit card. Most don't realize that by doing so you have just given the store permission to use that data for their own marketing purposes and to share it with affiliated companies ('affiliated' being such a loosely defined term that you may have just handed it over to a hundred companies.)

If you have your phone number on the Do Not Call list, you should never give it to retailers because it proves that you have an existing business relationship with them and their affiliates and they no longer are prohibited from calling.

The data miners and scam artists have killed the participation rate in legitimate telephone surveys. The tide turned in the mid-1990s, as I recall. It was not uncommmon to get 80% cooperation rates prior to that time; now even in the best survey houses they're lucky to get 50% response.

[Idylle Moon Dancer]

4. I don't mind giving them my zip

although I do agree about the "softening-up," but I don't have an opinion on whether or not it's part of a premeditated conditioning plan. For phone numbers I'd just give a fake in the interest of making the transaction as smooth as possible, but I realize now that's just silly, and possibly harmful to some innocent bystander who might have the "fake" number that I give to the clerk.

[undergroundpanther]

3. I hate it

When you buy something and the clerk asks for personal information,I tell them I don't give away my information...Besides who wants junk mail?

[undeterred]

5. I work in IT and I get calls asking questions about our network

from people who supposedly want to "help" us, sell us something, provide a consultant, etc. They start out asking questions that seem relatively harmless, like how many servers we have and what brand they are.

While there occasionally might be legitimate sales calls, we treat them all as possible security breaches. Nobody needs to know anything about our network except us.

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

6. I have only replied when I recognized the name of the organization

I don't anymore. Not so much out of concern that they'll get info against me, but that the research will be used to support a rightwing agenda.

That's why I no longer participate in Zogby research. I believe Zogby's own polls are nonpartisan, but they also survey for clients who want to skew the answers a certain way - it's clear in the way the questions are loaded. That's not Zogby's doing: they have partisan clients on both sides and they're just the vendor. But you can never tell what a survey is about until you've already spent several minutes answering preliminary questions. After I had to scrap a couple after seeing the skew, I stopped.

I tell phone researchers that if they want my opinion they can invite me to a focus group and pay me for it. Then I hang up.

[catzies]

7. I asked a survey-taker who called me "Who's paying for it?" Answer:

None: they hung up on me! :rofl:

[AlienGirl]

11. They don't tell us so we can't bias the results (it is a blind study)

And the person who hung up on you was being unprofessional; the respondent should be the one who hangs up first.

And yes, we do get a list of everybody's dinner time so we can call in the middle of it. (That's why I turn the ringer off when I don't want to be called.)

Tucker

[kineneb]

8. I mess with their minds

and always give the political pollsters an earful! The other ones, that start with "income" range thing always hang up on me anyway...can't sell something to someone living at under 125% of the poverty rate.

Around here there are only about 8 zip codes for the entire county, and the people I to whom give my zip code or phone number are at local businesses (usually my favorite local hardware store).

[AlienGirl]

9. Please do that! We find it entertaining!

Sitting in a call center all night pestering people whose time is worth much more than ours to get information about how they liked their cruise or if they swim at the Y is no fun. I really like entertaining callers. The funniest so far was the guy who tried to sexually offend me by asking my bra size; when I told him I have three breasts and can't wear bras, he hung up in shock! :rofl:

Tucker

[Nikki Stone 1]

12. LOL!!

Great comeback.

[AlienGirl]

10. I work for a market-research company

They don't sell any personal information, and all identification data is stripped out before the numbers are processed. What you end up with is a list of what percentage of single people in such-and-so zipcode, making median income, buy widgets or will vote to increase library funding or whatever.

The firm I work for does little political calling, but when there is a political project it is invariably liberal (like increasing library funding or improving environmental regulations).

I make $9/hr, and since almost everyone I talk to is a homeowner, I hear a lot of "My time is too valuable for this!" and so on. Well, if I were worth more in this economy, mine would be too; but there isn't much work for middle-aged BA's in Psych with bad credit due to medical debt (high risk for absenteeism). Oh well.

Tucker