blonde poker forum

I just received an 'unknown' call from Orange on my mobile.

The fellow on the other end spoke in a strange American accent and appeared to be in a call centre.

He asked if I'd received a 'loyalty bonus'.

I said 'no'.

Then he said that he just needs to confirm some details and asked for my postcode.

I told him my postcode (didn't see the harm). He couldn't hear me too well due to a bad reception and asked me to repeat. At this point, I hung up because I didn't feel comfortable handing out my personal details.

Was I being paranoid?

One word.  Julian!!

Never be afraid of being paranoid, it keeps you on your toes.

That reminds me, I need to get more wire coat hangers and put more tin foil on the walls.

erm........................NO!!!!

are you obliged to hand out personal details to to unidentified callers?

i don't think so, i've had some interesting calls with these people who want some personal information before they speak to you. It's best when they really need to speak to you but won't reveal who they are until you tell them a postcode or something, have a good bit of 'you tell me yours and i'll tell you mine' moments.

I'd never give personal information to someone calling me.  If in doubt, ask them for a number you can call back on, and check it out first.

I'd say you did the right thing.  In this age when you have to set security questions to get anything done on the phone, I generally don't just give info out without knowing exactly who they are and that certainly doesn't involve them calling me.

I've had my bank phone up and the first thing she says is that shes from suchnsuch bank and could I answer a few security questions to confirm who I am?  Well, I'm sorry but no, you called me so you know who I am, if I call you I can expect to answer them but you could be anyone gathering information.  I have no proof that you are who you say you are.

Orange probably only wanted to sell you something anyway, there's no need for them to confirm your address -  they already have it and if they want to give you something, they can just do it.

No! I never give anyone who rings me out of the blue any personal details, especially if they say they want to give me something.

Well, hopefully they didn't get my postcode in the end.

Can much go wrong by giving just 1 detail out such as a postcode?

wouldn't have thought so. It was probably a precursor to another question

yes, that what I thought.

My spidey senses were tingling

What does it matter what he asked you for?

If a caller asks for any information without identifying himself first then thats a form of harassment, you have every right to hang up immediately.

Its tantamount to an intrusion of privacy.

When cold callers phone me and tell me their name and enquire as to how I'm doing today without stating their business i find it so impertinant, i hang up.

they think because their boss tells them this is the most endearing way to introduce themselfs they have a licence to question you with impunity, i dont get angry but whenever some calls and says: " hello sir I'm john and how are you today"? i say whats it got to do with you? and hang up because really what has it got to do with a total stranger how I'm doing? and why should i be compelled to answer? so i dont!!!!

there are a directives in the ECHR that protect us from this type of intrusive behaviour

I recently had a call from T-mobile. The very first question I was asked was for my password! I said no, assuming it was a bogus call. We argued for a bit and I put the phone down.

Turns out it really was from T-mobile. It's normal procedure for them to ask for a password when making calls to their customers. Crazy.

hehehe...I had that one aswell..I sent them an email complaining about it and they (without me asking for it) gave me 50£ :)

Believe it or not, my credit card company did that to me!  The woman sounded so nervous as well, and said if I wasn't happy to give her my details to call the number on the back of my card.  So I called back to report this (obvious I thought) attempted fraud, and it was genuine.  Ironically, the reason they were calling was because they had been alerted to suspicious transations on my card....

Sad but true this one.
One of my customers worked in a charity shop had a call from the police to say that they had caught a thief that had stolen her bank card and could she check her handbag to see it was stolen. She did check and they were right it was missing. She was obviously upset by this news and the police asked her to confirm her pin number for security reasons. She obliged with 2416 or whatever it was. The police thanked her and advised that they were on the way to meet her to give her card back.
Of course it turns out that it wasn't the police but the thieving wotsit that had nicked her card who then went on to use her pin number to nick her money from her account.  >:(

.......what a muppet...... Im almost inclined to say she deserved to be robbed.... but knowing how often this happens its no wonder people go to great lengths trying to educate the masses