how do telemarketers get your phone
number anyway? You might be surprised.
1. You overshare your number Anytime you fill out a form and give out
your phone number—whether it’s a
contest entry, a warranty registration, a
signup form for an online service, what
you include on your social networking
profile—you’re opening yourself up for solicitations. Or, think about how many
retailers have your number because you
want loyalty points to score discounts or
in-store credit.
2.You accept Terms of Use without
reading or understanding them Sasse says a growing number of mobile
apps—things like flashlight utilities or
games—are really only interested in
harvesting your personal information and
selling it. “It becomes a scraping device, whether
it’s your contacts or the information you
used when you signed up. There’s a lot of
information that you’re providing when
you say ‘Yes, I accept whatever terms you
just put in front of me,’” he says.
3. Big data has killed privacy In case you don’t know what “big data” is,
here’s a brief primer. Basically, we live in an age where
computers are so smart and fast they can
crawl the web and look at billions of data
points instantly. In a blink they can look
at everything you Like, pin or tweet. They can mine census data and other public
records, such as how much you paid for
your house and whether or not it was ever
foreclosed upon. Just search for yourself
on Pipl.com—you’ll be amazed at the number of companies that claim to have
information about your family, income,
phone number and much, much more. Again, the more information you share
online, the easier it’s going to be for
someone to get your mobile number.
4.Technology can dial zillions of
random numbers like it’s nothing We’ve all received calls that don’t have
another human on the other end. Not only
is the recording automated, oftentimes
so is the process of finding your number.
According to PrivacyStar, automatic
dialing devices can figure out and call all possible phone number combinations,
including unlisted and mobile numbers.
5. Automatic Number Identification can
also sabotage you According to PrivacyStar, when you call
800, 888, and 900 numbers your phone
number can be captured by a system
called "Automatic Number Identification"
or ANI. ANI automatically identifies and
stores your number and matches it with other online digital markers associated
with you. (See the big data section
above.)
6. The credit bureaus give away your
information Before you get mad at them for spilling so
much of your personal information,
remember—you’re the one who agreed
to sign up for that department-store
credit card so as to receive 25% off.
7. Charities take all the fun out of being
philanthropic Don’t you hate it when you give $10 to
some charity that’s been hounding you only to have it double down on trying to
get even more money from you? The few
bucks you gave it are completely eaten up
in its marketing efforts to get deeper
access to your wallet.