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[-] carl_dungeon@lemmy.world 41 points 6 months ago

I mean, that’s what phone books were.

[-] LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago

True but nefarious people didn't have the additional tool of the internet back then.

[-] agressivelyPassive@feddit.de 9 points 6 months ago

Phone books exist online, too.

[-] Son_of_dad@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

For home phones and business. But I can't name 3 people I know that have a home phone anymore, everyone has their own cell phone and they don't list those. My condo building offers free home phone but I don't want it, it's just telemarketers now anyways.

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[-] gapbetweenus@feddit.de 24 points 6 months ago

Nah, nobody can wreck my life better than me.

[-] doingthestuff@lemmy.world 13 points 6 months ago

when someone steals your identity and your credit rating starts going up

[-] oxomoxo@lemmy.world 17 points 6 months ago

Not a whole lot can be done with a first and last name and a phone number. If someone is motivated they don’t need any of this to do harm.

As an example at my job people know my first and last name and I give it to people voluntarily without knowing anything about the other person. While I don’t give out my personal phone number, I know lots of people that do. Sometimes on their business card or even email.

You may be over thinking this and just use it as a lesson to be a bit more guarded and aware of social pressure in the future.

[-] LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world 3 points 6 months ago

Thank you. After a good night of sleep I agree with your last paragraph.

[-] Shadow@lemmy.ca 14 points 6 months ago

Have you heard of swatting? Spoof a call from your number to 911 and make up something really bad sounding.

[-] LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world 6 points 6 months ago

Yes, anything related to spoofing, that's what I was afraid of. But don't they need to know more information to spoof, such as your address and birth date etc?

[-] Shadow@lemmy.ca 8 points 6 months ago

No, the phone system is horribly insecure.

[-] Breezy@lemmy.world 4 points 6 months ago

You're either fishing for ideas or you pissed someone off and are scared for they might pull on you.

[-] LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world 8 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Why are you assuming I'M the bad guy?? I met a sociopath this evening and he charmed me into giving him my phone number and full legal name. He's like the classic American-Psycho-type profile. I'm scared.

[-] Breezy@lemmy.world 5 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

What kinda of pick up line does a guy gotta use to get your full name. You make it sound like he strong armed you. I think you're over reacting, creeps are gonna be creeps to everyone, ignore him if he contacts you. In fact block his number. In a few days you'll forget about them.

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[-] cali_ash@lemmy.wtf 1 points 6 months ago

Doesn't really work outside the US.

[-] Teknikal@lemm.ee 7 points 6 months ago

It does I'm in the UK and have been swatted, completely wrecked my life for a few months I was interrogated/interviewed dozens of times in dozens of stations and my dad even got arrested and cautioned during it.

Worst thing about it as soon as they realise they have messed up they double down on trying to get you on anything.

[-] sukhmel@programming.dev 2 points 6 months ago

Shit, that sounds like the opposite of what they (if you mean Bobbies) should do. But that's the reality we're in :(

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Probably not without using that information to attain additional details. Things like address, family member's names, job, can all be obtained without leaving their computer for almost no cost (or free, but with less accurate results sometimes).

After that, what they could do is really up to how much effort they put in, contrasted with how much effort you put in to preventing. A swat team could show up at your door with little effort on their part. Or if they wanted to go through the effort of social engineering/dumpster diving/remote hacking their way into enough info to steal your identity.

2FA with strong passwords at a bare minimum. And not "strong" according to the website's account creation page, actually strong (which is itself a moving target to define, and is always in debate).

Any loved ones who may have potential access to sensitive information should also be prepared similarly to avoid some of the more catch-all scams such as phishing.

[-] Squire1039@lemm.ee 7 points 6 months ago

Spoofing a number means they can call somebody and appears as calling from your number. In order to receive SMS or call made to your number, they would have to hijack your SIM, typically convincing your telecom provider to transfer your phone info over to theirs.

In the US, someone knowing your full name and phone number is commonplace. There is no wide-spead havoc because of this. Someone who wants to harm you would really have to be motivated to get more information from the info you gave them. This is obviously possible because of wide-spread data leaks, but does your emissary have the perseverance and the knowledge to do this?

[-] weeeeum@lemmy.world 3 points 6 months ago

There have been cases with Verizon where by simply stating your name and phone number they'll just ship anybody the victims sim card. Happened to h3h3. I think they've stopped that now but it's scary knowing your livelihood is at the whim of a min wage call center operator.

In terms of data leaks I've been really lucky, in part since I've been pretty proactive. Extremely careful to rarely give any info to any service, especially social security. Using haveibeenpwned.com will tell you if your info is involved in any data breaches.

[-] Squire1039@lemm.ee 3 points 6 months ago

Have I been pawned is really nice, but only includes confirmed data leaks. If you use other services like Google or Malwarebyte, they will tell you more leaks. I was involved with the MoveIt data leak from a financial institution recently, which basically leaked all the information that possibly can be partly/wholely used for identity theft. This didn't show up in HIBP. Fidelity Financial Life Insurance just leaked enough info via Infosys for another 30,000 customers with enough data for identity thefts recently.

In the US, it seems if somebody is able financially to aggregate all these sensitive data leaks, they probably can cause havocs to many people. These info often come from financial institutions, which you can't totally withhold or lie about your personal information.

[-] sukhmel@programming.dev 1 points 6 months ago

And given that this info is relatively freely available, one's only protection is low probability of being chosen on random from a really long list of leaked accounts

[-] NeoNachtwaechter@lemmy.world 6 points 6 months ago

That depends very much on which country and culture.

[-] SgtAStrawberry@lemmy.world 5 points 6 months ago

Not where I live as anyone can more or less look that up online for anyone. That's why I find it so fun when I hear those YouTube sponsors about how your full name and your birthday might be online, so pay this company to check for it and try to remove it.

[-] tal@lemmy.today 3 points 6 months ago

It's not that hard to get both for most people. The phone book whitepages used to list those. There are various services that aggregate them now.

Given that it's not all havoc out there, probably not trivially.

But...by the same token, there's nothing intrinsically about knowing your physical address that would let someone do that. But...they could go firebomb your house or something.

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[-] Breezy@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Hello my name is Christopher l brown My phone number is 6154183400 We can test and see if anyone can do anything with that info. Please dont use this to come kill or rape me. But you can send me money via my number on like cash or chime.

[-] LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

okay now you're freaking me out because the person who raised concern in me yesterday and why I am posting about this, his name was Christopher.

by the way I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to put phone numbers or identifying information on Lemmy. isn't that against the rules or something

[-] wahming@monyet.cc 2 points 6 months ago

You're not allowed to dox other users. You're perfectly free to dox yourself

[-] Breezy@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago

Well christopher is a very popular name. Theres to many in my opinion.

[-] LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago

My brother is a Christopher also. I think it was a common name circa 1950s-1970s. Not so much anymore in Gen z or Gen Alpha.

[-] Breezy@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago

Im no where near THAT old, i was only born in the 90s.....

[-] shinigamiookamiryuu@lemm.ee 1 points 6 months ago

Relatively speaking, there's no reason to suggest not, especially if there is flexibility of utility, perhaps to the delight of some who slanderously wish to entertain that idea toward me this month.

[-] LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world 3 points 6 months ago

Your comment is so cryptic I'm just going to leave all of your links blue.

[-] shinigamiookamiryuu@lemm.ee 1 points 6 months ago

Sorry, non-native-speaker here. You asked if anyone can do something with certain details. I was trying to say you can never rule out the possibility based on resources. I have a lot of experience being on the receiving end of this, the links being there as a recently relevant relic of that notion.

[-] LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago

Non-native speaker? interesting, now you're using complete sentences, making a coherent statement, and speaking perfect English.

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[-] The_wild_card@lemmy.today 1 points 6 months ago

Just dm me your full name and number we can try it out

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this post was submitted on 06 Mar 2024
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