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i have a lot to say on this subject because i always found it interesting how strangers discuss their bad marriages, illicit affairs or about their hook ups on dating sites with complete strangers on the internet .
we even have posters here who talk about their ploys for tax evasion .
but heaven forbid someone knows their financial status
unless someone is doing something sneaky or living a life that is a financial lie i never understood this stigma about knowing someones financial situation.
if anything the issues that come up are from people they know , not strangers in a financial forum.
there are so many sites that store and sell information on you that anyone can run and pay for.
worrying about a financial disclosure in a post is comical in the scheme of things
and the reason i say this is , we had our financials shown to 10-12 million people over decades and live in a city known for all kinds of unsavory characters .
and millions of others have had their info in print and MEH
to many other things to worry about today that are far more common and realistic
Last edited by mathjak107; 02-17-2024 at 04:08 AM..
I had an old friend from high school fall for a dating website scam. I tried to warn him but his ego got in the way. He only lost a couple of thousand in the venture. He was 58 years old at the time (and looked every second of that age) and had sent me a picture of some hot-looking 20-something that he thought was interested in him. He sent her (or him) 2500 dollars to buy an airline ticket.
I don't think criminals would take information from any forum at face value. It seems to me many people try to inflate their status on forums. No way to know for sure.
You would think they would remove the staple from the middle of the magazine photo they copy and send.
i can randomly throw in any name and see their house and learn all about them on spokeo or mylife.
but again i know of no case ever from posting on a financial forum.
there would certainly be a documentary like the dating website ones if it ever happened.
most incidents stem from dating site scams or hook up site blackmail.
like i said , we likely had close to 10-12 million see our story over the years in money magazine , the cnn website and fidelity magazine , and we live in nyc and zero ramifications from it .
not even a charity call or someone claiming to be a long lost relative looking for a loan
you can bet if you are targeted it isn’t because your financials were posted .
heck i can google just about any celebrity or known businessman and type net worth and a number comes up .
black mail can happen on sites where one discusses their illicit affairs with strangers or on gay hook up sites , but someone’s net worth ? MEH
nothing ever heard about in the two decades i have been on the financial independence early retirement forum site where financial info for millions of posters has been displayed over the years.
even here in city data there has been not one reported incident of someone being targeted because they posted some financial figures.
so there are more realistic things to worry about , like the 6 or 7 people that get to handle one of your checks as it goes through the banking system or a skimmer getting your pin at an atm or falling victim to a scam which are getting better and better at how they work
Very Well Said.
Some of the paranoia on this site is downright hysterical. It is second only to NextDoor, where people write in all caps not to answer your phone or open your front door. And if a stranger does knock on their front door and they have a Ring camera or something similar, they'll post the person's photo with a warning to be on the lookout for someone casing the neighborhood.
i have a lot to say on this subject because i always found it interesting how strangers discuss their bad marriages, illicit affairs or about their hook ups on dating sites with complete strangers on the internet .
we even have posters here who talk about their ploys for tax evasion .
but heaven forbid someone knows their financial status
unless someone is doing something sneaky or living a life that is a financial lie i never understood this stigma about knowing someones financial situation.
if anything the issues that come up are from people they know , not strangers in a financial forum.
there are so many sites that store and sell information on you that anyone can run and pay for.
worrying about a financial disclosure in a post is comical in the scheme of things
and the reason i say this is , we had our financials shown to 10-12 million people over decades and live in a city known for all kinds of unsavory characters .
and millions of others have had their info in print and MEH
to many other things to worry about today that are far more common and realistic
Mathjak: quite simply for a few reasons. There are MANY complaints over in the retirement forum, as well as here. IF someone knows you have money..at a lot, or more than they do..they always have their hand out.
Ask any *big lottery* winner.. unknown relatives and friends of friends who..the winner once chatted with in line at Starbucks for a coffee once show up.
As lottery winners can get around the *must publicly announce " their winnings...to waiting til the frenzy of that jackpot has passed and in meantime makes all arrangements necessary.
There is already a never ending list of how thieves..often in foreign countries..get any Americans money... ESPECIALLY seniors.
I literally had a phone call about 15 years ago that went like this (BTW I'm 60 now):
C denotes Caller, M denotes Me:
*Ring ring"
M: hello?
C hi grandpa, it's me.
M: me who?
C: it's me, your grandson
M: which one?
C: John, grandpa. Im in some trouble and I need help.
M: what kind of trouble, what kind of help?
C: I did something I probably shouldn't have. I'm at the police station. I need money to pay my fine and bailed out. Can you wire me $2,500?
M: well, I'll just drive over to the police station.
C: no grandpa, I'm in Boise Idaho..was checking out a college, PLEASE grandpa, I need it as soon as possible or they're gonna throw me in a cell..theres strange people here, I need you to hurry and get the money!
M: well, this is interesting. You see, I NEVER had ANY kids, so I don't have ANY GRANDKIDS!
C:CLICK.
Those might not have been the exact words...but that was a major scam back then that seniors seemed to fall for. I heard about it after that call.
I really never wanted kids, so I really never had any...not even foster or adopted (unless my cats count..and even all of them 2 at that time...were fixed).
I KNEW it was a scam immediately after he said "grandpa"..BUT I kept him on the phone a while.. knowing what he was trying and knowing it would keep him busy long enough not to be attempting to scam another senior grandpa/ma...and I wanted him to *get frustrated* that he *wasted time* with a non grandparent!
Anotger thing is I was an early adopter of online banking..until we lost $6k out of our checking account.
For unknown reason unknown recipient. The bank administrator, who knew us well literally said "to bad, so sad, your money is gone"!!!
So since then I go INTO my branches, get to know people working there, and THEY can look out for us..BUT, as above can't keep an eye on everything. At least someone faking to be me or my soon to officially be ex-spouse won't get far at our main branches
We also have more than one account at more than one institution..just like more than one CC in case something does go wrong I can at least pay bills.
There are a host of other reasons people on here don't want to mention these things.
I've read a lot of your posts, we all know you grew up in the projects and decided that wasn't for you..so you worked hard and invested to where you don't have to worry. I haven't read every post on here..you may have mentioned your total assets early in this thread, but if not..I've never seen you actually state total assets anywhere in here, either, jak!
My elderly BIL fell for the grandparent scam. And he is one of the smartest people I know (yeah, book learning, right). My sister only found out about it years later when they were discussing it with friends and he volunteered that he fell for it. Thankfully he does not do online banking.
Lately she checked their joint bank account and found dozens of paypal transactions, all going to various PAC's that send emails. Seems he couldn't resist each appeal and sent money. She contacted them and explained the situation and they refunded her several thousand dollars. They have had to close that account and open a new one, and completely close the Paypal account for him.
there are actually some real good ones out there .
our neighbor had gotten a request to test various consumer goods ….
not seeing any harm he agreed .
they sent him a list of appliances to buy and a check to more then cover the costs of the items .
so they requested everything be reviewed and bought in a weeks time ….
he spent less then they gave him so they requested only the change which was a few hundred dollars and he gets to keep what he bought .
so he mailed back the difference .
well turns out the check they gave him was drawn on a foreign bank so it took two weeks to find out it wasn’t good.
in the mean time they got the money he sent them . back and a bunch of appliances he didn’t need and paid for
The overpayment with a bad check scam has been around for a long time. Anyone should be skeptical of the setup and who does reviews on appliances where they hired but have to purchase them on their own?
I've noticed a couple of threads on this forum where people will be saying things like "I'm 80 and have a lot of money" or "I've just inherited a windfall".
Recently I just read of scammers who go a whole 'nother route. They select their victims and study them, sometimes for years, to figure out the best way to get you separated from your money.
It's not hard for people to find out who you are here. I know myself I overshare a lot of things but I don't have any money so for me that's not that big of a problem. However, for you folks saving for retirement, asking about investing, and wanting to know what to do with your money, please be a little more cautious. There's more than enough people out there who will be thrilled to tell you what to do with your money and none of it includes your well-being.
Good point. Its like people who post on social media their upcoming 2 week vacation and then their house gets robbed while they are gone. I say little about myself on here but have gotten random friend requests from new CD members from time to time. Pretty easy for them to slowly work their way into someone's life if they choose. I always refuse these friends requests.
Mathjak: quite simply for a few reasons. There are MANY complaints over in the retirement forum, as well as here. IF someone knows you have money..at a lot, or more than they do..they always have their hand out.
Ask any *big lottery* winner.. unknown relatives and friends of friends who..the winner once chatted with in line at Starbucks for a coffee once show up.
As lottery winners can get around the *must publicly announce " their winnings...to waiting til the frenzy of that jackpot has passed and in meantime makes all arrangements necessary.
There is already a never ending list of how thieves..often in foreign countries..get any Americans money... ESPECIALLY seniors.
I literally had a phone call about 15 years ago that went like this (BTW I'm 60 now):
C denotes Caller, M denotes Me:
*Ring ring"
M: hello?
C hi grandpa, it's me.
M: me who?
C: it's me, your grandson
M: which one?
C: John, grandpa. Im in some trouble and I need help.
M: what kind of trouble, what kind of help?
C: I did something I probably shouldn't have. I'm at the police station. I need money to pay my fine and bailed out. Can you wire me $2,500?
M: well, I'll just drive over to the police station.
C: no grandpa, I'm in Boise Idaho..was checking out a college, PLEASE grandpa, I need it as soon as possible or they're gonna throw me in a cell..theres strange people here, I need you to hurry and get the money!
M: well, this is interesting. You see, I NEVER had ANY kids, so I don't have ANY GRANDKIDS!
C:CLICK.
Those might not have been the exact words...but that was a major scam back then that seniors seemed to fall for. I heard about it after that call.
I really never wanted kids, so I really never had any...not even foster or adopted (unless my cats count..and even all of them 2 at that time...were fixed).
I KNEW it was a scam immediately after he said "grandpa"..BUT I kept him on the phone a while.. knowing what he was trying and knowing it would keep him busy long enough not to be attempting to scam another senior grandpa/ma...and I wanted him to *get frustrated* that he *wasted time* with a non grandparent!
Anotger thing is I was an early adopter of online banking..until we lost $6k out of our checking account.
For unknown reason unknown recipient. The bank administrator, who knew us well literally said "to bad, so sad, your money is gone"!!!
So since then I go INTO my branches, get to know people working there, and THEY can look out for us..BUT, as above can't keep an eye on everything. At least someone faking to be me or my soon to officially be ex-spouse won't get far at our main branches
We also have more than one account at more than one institution..just like more than one CC in case something does go wrong I can at least pay bills.
There are a host of other reasons people on here don't want to mention these things.
I've read a lot of your posts, we all know you grew up in the projects and decided that wasn't for you..so you worked hard and invested to where you don't have to worry. I haven't read every post on here..you may have mentioned your total assets early in this thread, but if not..I've never seen you actually state total assets anywhere in here, either, jak!
Best
there is no reason to post my total assets here in city data .
i do it where appropriate and relevant to the discussion. which hadn’t been relevant since i believe i first retired and was putting a plan together in another forum site
we have no discussions here where i find that relevant to the conversation other then inquiring minds want to know
A number of people here have mentioned using sites that depend on data mining. And yes, one can in principle, put a lot of little pieces of information together, coupled with data mining sites, to figure out who someone is, where they live, etc. I have done that myself.
But a lot of the information on those sites is garbage. Their "algorithms" tend to make a lot of associations that are simply not real. For example, 30 years ago I had a post office box in another state. Gave it up 25 years ago. A company that I have never had anything to do with then acquired that box number. And now, 25 years later, I still get all kinds of emails addressed to that company. As if I have anything to do with it.
But the "association" that I find funny is that those sites often have me now living with one or both of my ex-wives along with their new husbands and their kids, when in fact none of them have ever even been to my home. And "they" also have me living with them where they are, even though I have never even been there.
And yet, you can still learn enough about someone to be dangerous. My favorite example is that of a woman I once dated who worked for an intelligence agency. She wasn't very bright. She would tell me little bits and pieces of things, like where she went shopping last week on a trip to some third-world country. She never told me anything classified, but she shared enough that I was able to figure out a lot of classified information. At the time I was working for a different intelligence agency and was able to verify just how much information she had compromised. The worst part was when her clearances/intelligence tickets came up for renewal and I was interviewed, and I explained how careless she was and they didn't care because being careless was not on their vulnerability checklist.
So. Bottom line is that I agree with the OP premise. One should be more careful, myself included.
more harm comes from simply having your name and address on a tag on your suitcase ….
it lets all the baggage handlers know you are not home and where you live .
same with having your home saved in your gps and giving your car to a valet.
it’s pretty common to set up those high end cars they are parking to have the house robbed while you are out
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