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The Kitchen Table

Think your cell phone number is secure? Think again!

18 years ago

If you think your cell phone number is safe from marketers think again. It may have already been published on the internet along with 90 million others.

See the latest at: www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22956815

"Intelius" may have posted your number along with the whole directory for a few days before pulling it.

Jim

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Comments (6)

lilliepad
18 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
This is not true.Check it on SNOPES.I couldn't find the URL you posted.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cell Phones and marketers
bettyswwa
18 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
The URL worked for me. Thank goodness Intelius decided to stop the service.
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western_pa_luann
18 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
"This is not true.Check it on SNOPES."

Actually, it IS true that Intelius posted a cell phone directory on its website.
Verizon threatened to sue, and at least the Verizon numbers were pulled.

The story was in the papers and on the news yesterday and today.....
lilliepad
18 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
Sorry,as I said I couldn't read the original link so I went to Snopes and found the link I posted.It is my understanding though that all one has to do in order to keep marketers from calling is register with the "Do Not Call" registry.
In the Snopes information it states that the list compiled by Intelius was compiled from a number of public sources,not from information provided by wireless providers,so therefore may not be reliably accurate.
Pooh Bear
18 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
I saw this on CNN last week. It is true.
They reported that there is no way to remove
your number at this time. The information
was gathered from a bunch of public resources.
This was reported early last week.
Some of it may have changed since then.

Pooh Bear
lindasewandsew
18 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
Hi, I'm one of those people who HATES phone solicitors, but actually had a job doing it more years ago than I care to remember. Back then, we called numbers in sequence. The boss picked a prefix from the area and we 'cold called' every number from 0001 to 9999, then started on the next prefix.

After many years passed, I got tired of people calling, and found it hard to be short with them, even though they were a waste of my time. I heard Clark Howard's radio show about every money con job, including phone solicitors. He said on a show that when someone calls you, if you tell them clearly, "Take my number off your list, and never call me again", that they had to remove you from the list. If they did call you again and you could show that they did, you could take them to small claims court and win a couple of thousand dollars. That seemed to work. As soon as I recognized a solicitor, I stopped them and repeated that mantra. We got less and less calls.

Another thing that's important is to not give your phone number to anyone unless YOU decide they need it. Assume that anyone who gets your number will call it and try to sell you something, AND sell it to anyone who will pay for it. When we purchased an appliance at a major retailer and were told it would come in a few days later, they wanted all our info. When we refused to give them our number, they really didn't like it. Of course, they wanted the number to hound us to buy an extended warranty. Not giving your number out prevents untold numbers of callers from getting it. Don't let your kids give out your info at the mall or online for any reason.

We never signed up for a 'do not call' list. This list can be purchased by almost anyone for a nominal fee. Remember, if you need to know who not to call, you need those numbers. If I needed 'hot' phone numbers, this is the first place I'd get them, knowing that they're current, and the odds of getting in trouble for calling them are on my side. There is no magic to cell phone numbers. I hear people in public answer their phones and say, you know this is a cell phone, as if that makes any difference to the person calling.

Do sign the privacy forms at your banking institutions so they're not allowed to sell your information. That should stay in house.

I'm sure that sometimes, major companies leak phone numbers and other info, but in this case, many more calls are received as a result of our own actions than from other's leaks. We turned our land line phone off over a year ago, which we were receiving NO soliciting on and don't get any on our cell phones. We got two calls on our cell phones that were a result of our car being repaired by two different repair places. One was a warranty repair at a dealer. When sales people call you, they know the longer you're on the phone, the more likely they'll get the sale. The sooner you stop them, the better. Repeat after me, TAKE MY NUMBER OFF YOUR LIST AND NEVER CALL ME AGAIN. It gets easier every time you do it. It works. Give the 555-5555 number to those who say they need your number, but you know they don't. Linda

Here is a link that might be useful: Clark Howard-Money Guy Extrordinaire

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