Don't Just Tear Up That Junk Mail! From one of my favorite web-haunts comes this story that has been hitting the news channels ....
Ooooh now this is a topic that really fires me up lol. I DETEST junk mail and marketing calls with a PASSION. I once had a call from someone claiming to be my bank, and *they* asked *me* to answer security questions such as my mother's maiden name /my birthdate /account number etc - hang on! THEY called ME! For all I knew, they could have been *anyone*. You can only imagine my reply lol. I am so sick of junk mail/marketing calls but I now deal with them in a few different ways, based on an informative list sent to me by email from a friend. I will try to find it, as it's quite humorous lol. That video you mentioned was quite shocking - I mean, it is very scary to think that your personal details (ie name and address), even if completed by others, can be handled in such an impersonal way and without checks being made. I just think that credit card companies don't care, as long as they get people to sign up and keep them in business. What really worries me is that they offer you increases on your credit cards without your request. It's so easy these days to fall into the mindset that you can have anything you want before you even have the money or the means to pay it back. They tempt you into taking out loans and overdrafts, then stomp on you when you're up to the neck in debt. They make it seem 'normal' to have credit cards and give you special offers for spending xxx amount on your credit card. It's almost the norm to have credit and loans, and that's worrying. For many people, it's the only way they can really obtain a certain service or product when they really need it - I understand that and I have done it myself in the past. However, it all has to be paid back sometime, and then you end up borrowing from one lender to pay off another, and so the cycle goes on. Argh! I'm going to step off the soapbox LOL!
I love junk mail!! But I also love my fire in which I burn all junk mail and old personal papers that aren't needed anymore. Very scary to think someone could do that though!
Like allie said, junk mail should be burned into ash, the ash mixed with water and then taken far out into the sea.
How I handle Telemarketers calls: I awnser the phone and awnser with the name of a businuess, like "Hello, thank you for calling Discover Card's hotline!" The person on the other hand usually STILL ASKS if this is my mom or dad. I then hang up or ask them if THEY are interested in whatever they are selling. They don't call as often as they used to
My husband has been shredding that stuff for years, to the point of putting half in one can and half in another. thank goodness for the shredder. at least most companies have stopped embossing your name on their dummy cards.
I watched a program about how some thieves are getting quite high-tech. It's pretty scary when you think about how simple it can be for them to get your information - and how much of a mess it would be to clean up afterwards.
Speaking of shredding - there was an guy who had been convicted of fraud on the telly the other night - he said that those shredders that just shred in straight lines can be put back together in like 30 seconds - he even demonstrated. He said that if you don't want to get caught out you should use a criss-cross shredder.
I've heard of that, thats why our shredder makes confetti out our mail. cuts sideways and vertically. a job would be easier than reconstucting our documents.
I have an idea. :mischievous: How about a can of un-deoderizer? The odor of rotten fish! Spray it on your trash. Who's going to dig through rotten fish :yuck: for scraps of paper that might, or might not :bandit: , be credit card information?
Or better still max-out all your credit then default on all the loans to destroy your credit rating. Imagine how much you'll be able to laugh knowing the criminals will waste their time taping those junk-mail credit applications back together ... :devil: :smirk: :dollarsign: :twocents: :biggrins:
