BS: So how did they get my address?

Subject: BS: So how did they get my address?
From: RangerSteve
Date: 02 Mar 09 - 08:28 PM

I got an interesting piece of mail the other day. It was postmarked Los Angeles, and contained a handwritten note: Stephen, You might find this interesting. (Signed) L

The thing I was supposed to find interesting was a two page ad about a hair restoration product. I'm not losing my hair, never said I was, and don't know anyone in L.A. And no one calls me "Stephen".

Then there are the two chain letters, one from Utah and another from Missouri, both place that I don't know anyone from. (I had relatives in both places, but they've been long dead). They were the kind that promise tons of money if you mail one dollar to everyone on the list, then put your name on the list and mail it to 200 people.

I know not to get involved.

My problem is this: I'm not in the phone book. It's a hold-over from my law enforcement days, and haven't been listed for 20 years. So where do they get my address? I'm just curious. Has anyone else had this happen - where you're not listed, but somehow you end up getting mail from strangers who shouldn't have access to your address?

Subject: RE: BS: So how did they get my address?
From: Alice
Date: 02 Mar 09 - 08:50 PM

Some how, some way, your name and address were on a list that was sold for direct mail.

It could come from a charity you gave to, an association you belong to, a merchant or credit card company or some other source that has your name and address and then sold it. Mailing lists are valuable and they are not compiled only from phone lists.

The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) will remove your name from some lists at your request, but cannot keep you off of all lists. If you give a donation, unfortunately, that really opens you up to being on a "donor" list that may bring more mail.


Stop the Junk Mail Monster





Alice

Subject: RE: BS: So how did they get my address?
From: Rapparee
Date: 02 Mar 09 - 08:58 PM

Stephen, the chain letters are a violation of postal regulations and federal law -- turn them in to your postmaster along with the envelopes they came in.

Subject: RE: BS: So how did they get my address?
From: Genie
Date: 02 Mar 09 - 10:03 PM

A few years back it was revealed that some mass mailers had gotten hold of the listings from the Department Of Motor Vehicles of some states.   I think there was more than one instance like this, where anyone interested was given access to governmental listings of names, addresses, and phone numbers, etc.   It sucks, but that can be the case.

I do know that when I donate to one charity, I all of a sudden start getting donation solitations from all sorts of other tangentially related charities.

Also, once I turned *cough* 65 *cough* I began to get all sorts of offers for cremation services, burial plots, nursing home insurance, and just about everything else that's connected with being (perceived as) a geezer.   Makes me wonder if the Social Security Administration is giving or selling access to their address listings.

Oh, and FWIW, where email is concerned, it seems a lot of spammers either don't know that I don't have a penis (large or otherwise), already have a doctorate in psychology, have already paid off my mortgage, don't have any credit card debt, and am not losing my hair. LOL

Subject: RE: BS: So how did they get my address?
From: Alice
Date: 02 Mar 09 - 10:12 PM

Since I was in my 20's, I've gotten AARP junk mail, because "Alice" is a name that was common in the US for mostly elderly women.

Subject: RE: BS: So how did they get my address?
From: Big Mick
Date: 02 Mar 09 - 10:19 PM

Not hard at all. There are subscription service databases, like Lexus Nexus, where I can pull up every credit app you have filled out, every document you have filed, every tax you have paid, and your residences back to high school. There is very little private about you, even if you were a law enforcement officer. I have personally used these when tracking down addresses for my work in organizing. Just for grins I ran one on myself and was shocked what came up. This information, in the age of the internet, is all public domain, and more importantly, it is linked. I know it scares folks, but the fact is that it is all there. All one has to do is be willing to pay for the service.

Subject: RE: BS: So how did they get my address?
From: GUEST,Slag
Date: 02 Mar 09 - 10:39 PM

Zabasearch. You can find virtually anyone and every place they have lived in the last 20 years, birthday, address, and in some cases phone number. I found my fiance's long lost brother with Zaba. If you pay them you can get detailed information and criminal history (if any). You can also notify them to leave your info out and it even has a feature that notifies you if someone is checking your info out! There are other such "services" in existence.

The Post Office will NOT do anything about your chain letter. Yes, they are illegal but the PM almost always just tosses the letter in the circular file. If you should happened to RESPOND to a chain letter and lose money, THEN they will take some action. So many scam letters come through their hands that it is simply not cost effective to deal with them all. Same for the Nigerian scam letters.

Scams, spams and junk mail make fine mulch, fire-starters, papier-mache and I am sure they have some other benefits that the sender did not intend.

Subject: RE: BS: So how did they get my address?
From: Gurney
Date: 03 Mar 09 - 01:29 AM

The simplest way, in England and NZ anyway, is to go to the library and look in (phone-photograph?) the electoral rolls.

Subject: RE: BS: So how did they get my address?
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 03 Mar 09 - 05:14 AM

We have found that donating to one charity, means that you will soon be getting begging letters from many others.
I'm afraid my reaction is to now send to none. The letters still come, and the pens get used, the pennies get put in the loose change jar, and the letters get shredded for compost.

Subject: RE: BS: So how did they get my address?
From: Jack Campin
Date: 03 Mar 09 - 07:30 AM

I kept the last one of these I got as it so bizarre as to be worth bronzing. Addressed in a way that had to have been derived from my Usenet sig. It was two VIP tickets to a trade fair for battery farming products in Hannover, Germany. As far as I know I've never posted anything to suggest I had any interest in battery farming and the only place in Germany I've been to in the last 15 years is the transit lounge at Frankfurt airport. I presume the trade fair's PR company must have had more promo stuff to get rid of than they had addresses for so they had to resort to desperate measures.

Subject: RE: BS: So how did they get my address?
From: kendall
Date: 03 Mar 09 - 09:07 AM

Battery farming? What the hell is that?

Subject: RE: BS: So how did they get my address?
From: Leadfingers
Date: 03 Mar 09 - 09:28 AM

I would LOVE to get into Battery farming , but I cant find a way to Breed Re-Chatggeables !

Subject: RE: BS: So how did they get my address?
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 03 Mar 09 - 10:03 AM

Thanks to everyone who posted helpful information. I'll go see if I'm on Zabasearch or not. (I have a vague memory of blocking myself at one time.

Leadfingers, you stole my joke about battery farming.

Subject: RE: BS: So how did they get my address?
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 03 Mar 09 - 10:05 AM

Are you positive?

Subject: RE: BS: So how did they get my address?
From: Wesley S
Date: 03 Mar 09 - 10:48 AM

I've seen things like this before. Sometimes they are faxed to the office. Your name and the "L" signature are designed to look handwritten but if you look closly you'll see that they were printed. Often they are made to look like a reprinted article from the paper. Weight loss is a common theme.

Subject: RE: BS: So how did they get my address?
From: GUEST,Jonny Sunshine
Date: 04 Mar 09 - 06:32 AM

Sounds like a cynical way to increase the reach of an advertising campaign. It may or may not be legal, though I doubt you can do much about it either way.

In the UK you can sign up to the Mailing Preference Service, since I did the amount of crap through the post has drastically reduced, though you can never stop hand-delivered flyers.

Subject: RE: BS: So how did they get my address?
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 05 Mar 09 - 12:02 PM

Guest: Johny Sunshine
You can avoid any 'junk mail' which is delivered by the Royal Mail. See the recent news article "Postman faces sack"
And, it is the Royal Mail who deliver a great percentage of 'junk mail'

Cheers
Nigel

Subject: RE: BS: So how did they get my address?
From: Alice
Date: 05 Mar 09 - 03:33 PM

I had a friend years ago who worked in the Los Angeles area for a company that sold a hair restoring treatment. She had to use that ploy... they would take a copy of a full page of a newspaper, print it on newsprint with their ad on the other side (it's against copyright laws if nothing else) and then hand write "This really works" with her initials. Trying to make their company look more legit, as if it really had a full page color ad in that paper.
It's a tired, old trick.

Subject: RE: BS: So how did they get my address?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 05 Mar 09 - 04:48 PM

There is one simple thing to do with all that kind of stuff. The same thing you do with junk email. Look at it just long enough to realize it's an attempt to waste your time and/or to get your money...or possibly to do you harm. That takes about a second or two usually. Don't waste your energy getting upset about it. Just toss it in the wastebasket (digital or 3D), recycle it, forget about it, and get on with something you do want to spend your time on.

Your failure to respond to them is exactly what they don't want. If everyone just ignored them, they'd have to find a new occupation.

Subject: RE: BS: So how did they get my address?
From: Bill D
Date: 05 Mar 09 - 05:23 PM

When signing up for 'stuff', I often use a variation of my name...Will, or Willie or Billy...etc. Then, if I get emails or ads, I KNOW who has sold it and who to yell at.

Subject: RE: BS: So how did they get my address?
From: GUEST,Slag
Date: 05 Mar 09 - 06:06 PM

LH: Like responding to this thread? !!!

Subject: RE: BS: So how did they get my address?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 05 Mar 09 - 10:15 PM

Yeah, I guess... ;-) It's the only one I've bothered to respond to all week here.

Subject: RE: BS: So how did they get my address?
From: GUEST, Sminky
Date: 06 Mar 09 - 05:13 AM

It may be as simple as someone rifling through your garbage. It's a growing problem here in the UK.

All it takes is one envelope with your name and address on to be found and 'they' have got you.

My advice is to shred everything in sight.