Giving a pic of yourself, and maybe, identification details in your sign up page, is a guarantee, that someone will steal your ID, so I would delete this if I were you. It is one reason, why people try and stay anonymous online. It would be nice if we could safely do this, but you just cannot take the risk, sorry mate.

Okay, then. I'll set a second challenge. Identify me!

Mein, can I suggest that you seriously consider getting some help?????

oldbloke wrote:

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Plenty of people upload pics of themselves on forums. IMO the risk of identity theft is pretty low. You need a lot more that just a pic. I don't do it but if mein wants to that's his decision. He certainly does not need help.

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 Hmmmm. Neil,surely you jest? Public forum so I will say no more, but I notice that your surname, which once was public, has now been abbreviated.. Why would this be? Cheers

 Silly challenge.

Not a silly challenge. An IMPOSSIBLE challenge.

The most ill-informed persons in this world are those who believe that they are actually knowledgeable.

This is Eddie, he's nearly 1 but doesn't have an email address. PS I had to take the selfie cos he can't use the phone. 

Cheers Bob

yobarr wrote:¥

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oldbloke wrote:

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Plenty of people upload pics of themselves on forums. IMO the risk of identity theft is pretty low. You need a lot more that just a pic. I don't do it but if mein wants to that's his decision. He certainly does not need help.

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 Hmmmm. Neil,surely you jest? Public forum so I will say no more, but I notice that your surname, which once was public, has now been abbreviated.. Why would this be? Cheers

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 Further to the above Yobarr,

In reality you are the reason I changed that. I realised after several comments you had made (including details about myself) that you are recording details about me. This is a serious concern to me as only people with intentions other than good do this sort of thing. Some weeks ago I asked Cindy to delete one of my posts for just that reason.

Don't be surprised if I delete my own membership here. (I'm sure this will please you)  unlike a few gullible members here I am on to you, as are many others, and like the many that have simply "disappeared" from the forum. It was once a good forum but has gone down hill due to just a couple of members have regularly started arguments. I really hope the mods here wake up to those members soon. 

I am a member of another forum where people often post pics of themselves and even family members. If there is the slightest hint of trolling or members being overly argumentative the members are promptly deleted/ banned. As you were from the caravans forum. I can only hope I guess.

Why? Because as the better members leave only the crap will remain. Then like some other forums, it will die.

oldbloke wrote:

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yobarr wrote:

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oldbloke wrote:

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Plenty of people upload pics of themselves on forums. IMO the risk of identity theft is pretty low. You need a lot more that just a pic. I don't do it but if mein wants to that's his decision. He certainly does not need help.

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 Hmmmm. Neil,surely you jest? Public forum so I will say no more, but I notice that your surname, which once was public, has now been abbreviated.. Why would this be? Cheers

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 So, Chris, how many hours have you spent searching the net looking for me? Not many people would bother recoding or remembering a fellow members surname, would they? Unless they had less than good intentions.

 

I abbreviated it so the trolls here would find it difficult to find me when I realised there were trolls here. Why else?

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Neil, you can be assured that I have absolutely no interest in your life, and that I have NEVER kept records of you or any other member of any forum, other than what I retain in my memory. And you can be sure that I have better things to do than waste my time "searching the net" looking for you or anybody else, for that matter. The purpose of my post was to support Ric's assertion and to warn Mein, and others, that it is not at all difficult to research identity. No malicious intent, just a bit of friendly advice fir others. Hope this clears things for you? Cheers

Mein wrote:

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Have you ever wondered what other forum members look like?

 

Have you ever wondered what 'Mein' looks like?

 

Well, here I am:-

 

I concede that I'm not very good at taking selfies.

 

And, incidentally, 'Mein' comes from my secondary email address, as in, meinmackay@xxxx.com.

 

So, are you up for the challenge?

 

 

Are you willing to show your face?

 

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 Hi Mein,

It is not today or tomorrow that your identity may become known to the unscrupulous.

It is a history of little details that are provided each time you post here or on other public pages.

That is how people lose their identities.

You dont know that the bloke behind the bar  (as an example only) in the local pub is not one who will trade on getting your identity

The info he gains and coupled with other info will go a long way to assisting him with identity theft.

I think we all know it goes without saying that a certain social media platform has by default very slack privacy settings. That forum provides an endless supply of identities available to the unscrupulous.

Even the simple matter of purchasing an item off a public forum is racked with danger.

I will be very surprised if any member on here actually accepts your invitation to identify themselve.

I do know some do use their own photo in their avatar and they do so at their own risk as it is personally perceived.

Mein wrote:

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Knowing a person's surname is not enough to steal someone's I.D., or achieve most  other nefarious activities.

 

Think about the hundreds of thousands of newspaper reports which can be read online and in which people's first and surnames are stated.

 

The FACT is, social media platforms are the primary source of information that criminals want and use. On social media platforms, such as Facebook, some people (foolishly) give their full name, their date of birth, their place of birth, the names of schools they attended, the names of cities in which they live / have lived, the names of family members, and more.

 

And to take the discussion a little further, I genuinely don't understand how people fall prey to online scammers.

 

I recently advertised some items for sale on Gumtree (and other websites) following which I received several SMS (text messages sent to my phone) enquiring about the items and asking me to reply to a given email address.

 

What normal person sends an SMS and asks that a reply be sent to an email address???

 

I mean, talk about alarm bells!!

 

And, my final word: it pays to be cautious but it costs (time, inconvenience, lost opportunities) to be irrationally wary.

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 Your pretty right. However over the last year or so I have become more cautious. On this forum in particular. 

bratboy wrote:

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And another thing , how do we know that photo is even a photo of mein . It could be a random photo he got off the internet .main I think you need to post a copy of your birth certificate and driver's licence just so we are sure it's you .

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Ha, ha. Well done.

bratboy wrote:

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And another thing , how do we know that photo is even a photo of mein . It could be a random photo he got off the internet .main I think you need to post a copy of your birth certificate and driver's licence just so we are sure it's you .

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 Haha,  

He looks a bit older than the guy I found on FB. even though they both are in Mackay.

A little info each time there is a post soon adds up.

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc; etc. No way, not for this little black duck.

In one role I did in my past in the 80's, a side job, was to investigate people. Their is one member on this forum, whom, I found their full name, and address right down to their house, not that I needed that info . But I also found their house on google satelite. I deleted it all. It was just a study for myself, on how much info, people put on their home pages, and as I use to do that job, I thought: I wonder, if I still have the same investigating ability as I did in the past, and I do. Unscrupulous people could take advantage of the public persona people supply on the net for whatever reason they deem necessary.