Spare a thought for the Birthday Announcers tomorrow...

[Raffles]

Just had a look at the calendar on here...

Best of luck sorting out the genuine 1st Jan birthdays out of that lot

[toots]

How many  

[Blownupdolly]

Ahem...oh dear!

Either way, I shall be up very late due to my late night tonight. I think it best to just say happy birthday everyone!!

[boyofford]

[giles]

Couple of years back someone took out a loan using my name. They did quite a lot of people including my neighbour. The loan company mailed me, and when I declined to pay, sold their debt to a debt collector who then harassed me quite a bit. They did the same with my neighbour. I'm old & ugly enough to not worry much about such things, but my neighbour isn't and she found it very upsetting until it finally all went away - which took a while.

The information they needed to take out a loan in my name wasn't much - name, address, date of birth.

[boyofford]

Dec 31, 2013 13:37:13 GMT giles said:

Couple of years back someone took out a loan using my name. They did quite a lot of people including my neighbour. The loan company mailed me, and when I declined to pay, sold their debt to a debt collector who then harassed me quite a bit. They did the same with my neighbour. I'm old & ugly enough to not worry much about such things, but my neighbour isn't and she found it very upsetting until it finally all went away - which took a while.

The information they needed to take out a loan in my name wasn't much - name, address, date of birth.

good point, birthday removed!

[Raffles]

Dec 31, 2013 13:45:41 GMT boyofford said:

Dec 31, 2013 13:37:13 GMT giles said:

Couple of years back someone took out a loan using my name. They did quite a lot of people including my neighbour. The loan company mailed me, and when I declined to pay, sold their debt to a debt collector who then harassed me quite a bit. They did the same with my neighbour. I'm old & ugly enough to not worry much about such things, but my neighbour isn't and she found it very upsetting until it finally all went away - which took a while.

The information they needed to take out a loan in my name wasn't much - name, address, date of birth.

good point, birthday removed!

From memory, I don't think we were required to disclose our real name or address... so unless anyone is really careless how would they link those details to your username. Whereas if you look up someone reasonably famous on Wikepdia you'd get their name and DOB, then just need their address which is probably easy enough to get. Don't panic!

[boyofford]

Dec 31, 2013 14:02:15 GMT Raffles said:

Dec 31, 2013 13:45:41 GMT boyofford said:

good point, birthday removed!

From memory, I don't think we were required to disclose our real name or address... so unless anyone is really careless how would they link those details to your username. Whereas if you look up someone reasonably famous on Wikepdia you'd get their name and DOB, then just need their address which is probably easy enough to get. Don't panic!

Dunno, but happens to people so must be possible.

[Deleted]

Glad the birthday calendar was brought up.
I never give my real birthday on anything except official. When joining forums I never give my real name when joining or usually location. My email I use for joining forums is under a fake name (Hotmail dumping email). So don't waste your precious time on my given one. I can't even remember the date I used but I'm sure it was younger LOL.
Also when doing transactions and contacting peeps through pm, make sure you clear the important details like address etc. I trust the forum staff completely, its others who may have the skill to hack in you need to watch.
Be safe not sorry is my motto.
I didn't even like having to join Paypal! I much prefer using sites which allow direct payment via your bank. PP stores your banking details. I don't even use online banking.
I'm a paranoid!

[Blownupdolly]

Dec 31, 2013 14:23:47 GMT @zero said:

Glad the birthday calendar was brought up.
I never give my real birthday on anything except official. When joining forums I never give my real name when joining or usually location. My email I use for joining forums is under a fake name (Hotmail dumping email). So don't waste your precious time on my given one. I can't even remember the date I used but I'm sure it was younger LOL.
Also when doing transactions and contacting peeps through pm, make sure you clear the important details like address etc. I trust the forum staff completely, its others who may have the skill to hack in you need to watch.
Be safe not sorry is my motto.
I didn't even like having to join Paypal! I much prefer using sites which allow direct payment via your bank. PP stores your banking details. I don't even use online banking.
I'm a paranoid!

Regarding PMs. There is no need to worry about them as not even Chrissie can access or read what is in them.

[Deleted]

I'm not in the least concerned or worried about you guys. So is it impossible to hack into the forum??

Blownupdolly you can have my address anytime

[Raffles]

Dec 31, 2013 14:23:47 GMT @zero said:

Glad the birthday calendar was brought up.
I never give my real birthday on anything except official. When joining forums I never give my real name when joining or usually location. My email I use for joining forums is under a fake name (Hotmail dumping email). So don't waste your precious time on my given one. I can't even remember the date I used but I'm sure it was younger LOL.
Also when doing transactions and contacting peeps through pm, make sure you clear the important details like address etc. I trust the forum staff completely, its others who may have the skill to hack in you need to watch.
Be safe not sorry is my motto.
I didn't even like having to join Paypal! I much prefer using sites which allow direct payment via your bank. PP stores your banking details. I don't even use online banking.
I'm a paranoid!

Once you go online you are at risk... your details are held by your ISP. Some of the recent hacking and malware stories are frightening, never mind the card readers maliciously installed on cash machines and even the terminals within stores. Yes, be sensible, but if we worried about all the possibilities we'd never go through the door or make any financial transaction.

Keep a regular eye on your bank statements and if you see anything unusual, signal it up to your bank, and you should be covered.

And BTW I think Dolly has got all our addresses, just in case she's passing and fancies a cup of tea (or something stronger)

[oldleatherlungs]

Not wanting to miss out on tomorrow's celebrations I've changed my birthday to 1st January - so it's now 154 members with a birthday tomorrow

[Blownupdolly]

Dec 31, 2013 14:35:05 GMT @zero said:

I'm not in the least concerned or worried about you guys. So is it impossible to hack into the forum??

Blownupdolly you can have my address anytime

Ooooh cheeky! Has my luck changed?

Don't know about hackers, but I used to moderate a couple of proboards forums and I know for a fact that no staff or moderators have access to private messages.

[Deleted]

People shouldn't worry but just be careful.