It was well know fact not hearsay that teams would take bin liners away from outside nice addresses and go through them. You would be surprised what information people just throw into the bin/garbage. I ask you all buy a shredder they are very cheap but when you buy make sure it cuts in a criss cross fashion not just strips you can put these back together trust me I know
shred anything with personal details on that includes NIF numbers. This takes minutes to take care of leave things as they are and you will be months writing letters/telephone and then trying to explain that you live in Spain but still are using a UK based credit card. I leave the matter to you to decide what they will say when you ask them to refund 10000 worth of usage.....They will say sod off read the use and conditions. Take care of your personal information and you will be fine. I have 31 years home office experience looking into other peoples business trust me I do know what I am talking about. Life for some of you is hard enough here in Spain don't make it easier for those light fingered bastards to get hold of your hard earned cash/identity.It takes years to get your credit rating back to good once these people have attacked your identity or credit accounts

Another thought. A lot of people put their birth dates on boards like this.

I don't, and I won't give it out either.

That's another useful piece of data for fraudsters.

There is a difference to giving your birthday to giving full dob

Quite possibly, but just because I am paranoid, it doesn't mean they aren't out to get me!

Indeed true Linda but (for example) bil has already declared his age more than once in threads so if you know his birthday you then have his d.o.b. Incidentally the board itself gives away your birthday with the happy birthday greetings. It is amazing what you can pick up and piece together from peoples posts over time. Even "innocent" pics can reveal your car make, model, colour and even registration, sometimes they show your friends etc and remember most of what is posted is there for all joe public to see across the world. It is easy to promote paranoia and there is a difficult line between enjoying a forum debate and giving away too much personal details.

Sometimes good to count your blessings that did not get hurt this time and simply try and be more aware in future. It is not easy, I dont know how or where my Spanish credit card was cloned in the UK but the bank system saw it and protected me. Incidentally there is nothing wrong with having UK based cards when you live in Spain, I have 2 and both are fully consistent with all terms and conditions of use. It is a point that it is very difficult to open a new account in the UK when you are a Spanish resident but if you have an account and then move to Spain, often your bank will be happy to continue the account and even send statements to a Spanish address.

I think I’d abbreviate the advice to don’t tell anybody anything.

I’ve been asked in an (outgoing) phone call for a CC password by the company, Nationwide, and when I refused to give it they terminated my call. I only wanted to know the balance and had already passed the ‘usual’ security tests. She finally said to me “Well, tell me all the passwords you typically use, and I’ll tell you if it’s one of those.” Yeah, like that’s gonna happen!

I’ve also had an incoming call asking for my wife’s NI number and other info, and they’ve got upset when I refused. That was a genuine Inland Revenue call, but how was I to know that?

Both genuine calls. They happily use checks on you, but don’t like it when you check on them.

You'd be amazed how many times Mods have to remove people's personal mobile numbers, email addresses and even passport numbers from BE.

..................................

Here's a good example of the bank scams that I had today - from the Abbey - complete withclick on this link to go to our secure site.
hen you lok at the actual properties of the link it is taking you to a website called
karensscrappin.com.au
Not even close to being the Abbey.

(incidentally I haven't clicked on the link, and I am not suggesting that anyone else does either!)

The problem is that some of them are similar, in fact I have seen the same bank domain but with an .ie or other dot notation, so someone who was not aware of what goes on would have a fairy high chance at being caught out. By the amount of the 'funds need tranferred' emails that go about it seems like it is a fairly large number of people at it.

What happens is the scammers 'people 1' send out these 'funds need transferred or large inheritance needs to be moved from africa' emails that ask for peoples contact information and eventually bank account numbers etc., these people are probably vetted to a certain extent to make sure they are suitble for the scam and then they are enrolled into the scam, lets call them 'people 2'. The emails that you are talking about are sent out to catch unsuspecting people 'people 3' to enter their bank account login details etc. When people 1 get bank account information from people 3 using the link in the emails and entering their user access information then they login and transfer funds to the bank account of people 2, people 2 are notified that they have funds transferred to their account and they then go to their bank, get the money then pass it on to people 1 'or representatives of', in reality the whole process takes less than a couple of hours or at most 48, and depending on your bank this process can remove up to 6,000 euros a day from your bank account.

People 2 get 10% of the funds for their service and from the contact I have had with someone who lost funds, the Spanish legal system does not see this as a punishable criminal offence on the part of people 2!

If you use online banking then make sure the bank has an sms alert system and activate it, this way if some one makes a transfer from your account online you are sent an sms to your mobile.

i am going to erase all my data from my profile right now

I may be paranoid, but as I say, I know there are people out there who are out to get me, or anyone else they can.

Then you're not paranoid enough... because statistically you've already been 'got'. Credit card details are stolen on average five times before they are used fraudulently. The chances are, criminals already have the details of one of your cards in your wallet.

The market for stolen financial information is massively sophisticated - the people that steal the information don't use it themselves - they trade it on through networks of criminal organisations, making it harder to reach the culprits. You can literally buy just about any financial records on-line these days... these organisations are that customer focussed

But, the people on here who talk about dates of birth and keeping banking records secure are really talking sense. Credit cards are all very well - but even with careful spending, most CC companies can spot fraudulent activities quite quickly. What's the most you'll milk out of a credit card - a few hundred or a few thousand if you're lucky?

It's the bank details, the personal information - names, addresses, dates of birth, NI numbers, bank account numbers etc - just the kind of thing the UK Government likes to stick on a CD and pop in the post! With this information, people can steal your identity and obtain a line of credit - suddenly they can borrow tens of thousands (or more) in your name... And whereas a credit card can be 'stopped' - it's a whole lot trickier to 'stop' your name or date of birth...

Well, I'm really careful, but I know full well that skimming a card is easy enough.

If you think I am paranoid, listen to this. I was with a friend who was covering up the number pad very carefully, tho there was no-one near. When I asked why the added caution, he just pointed to the mirrored ceiling.....

I was impressed!

I am a little paranoid too, i think life makes one be a little unfortunately

That is so true.