From: Jeff@invalid.invalid 
  
 On 13/09/2025 19:02, billy bookcase wrote: 
 > "Jeff Layman"  wrote in message 
 > news:10a3v6j$fvs3$1@dont-email.me... 
 >> On 13/09/2025 08:55, billy bookcase wrote: 
 >>> "John Levine"  wrote in message news:10a24q 
 $2nnu$1@gal.iecc.com... 
 >>>> According to Roland Perry  : 
 >>>>>> which of these addresses have you lived at at some point in the past 
 50 
 >>>>>> years ... 
 >>>> 
 >>>> True story: I live in the US, but I used to have an EE SIM that I used 
 when I 
 >>>> was in the UK. On one trip I arrived, tried to top up using their web 
 site, 
 >>>> didn't work, oh well, I'll sort it out later. On the train to Cambridge 
 the 
 >>>> phone rang with a call from an Irish number. "Hello", said an Irish 
 voice, "this 
 >>>> is EE and we need to verify that it's you who tried to do the top-up 
 with 
 some 
 >>>> verification questions." 
 >>>> 
 >>>> "OK, but I live in the U.S." 
 >>>> 
 >>>> "That's not a problem." 
 >>>> 
 >>>> We ran through a few questions, with the final one being: 
 >>>> 
 >>>> "In which U.S. state did you live in 1964?" 
 >>>> 
 >>>> "In *1964*?!?!?" 
 >>>> 
 >>>> "Oh, if you don't remember, we can try something else." 
 >>>> 
 >>>> "Of course I remember, I was ten years old." 
 >>>> 
 >>>> So I correctly identified the state and my top-up went through. 
 >>>> 
 >>>> How in the world did they know where I lived in 1964? 
 >>> 
 >>> They didn't. 
 >>> 
 >>> However if they ever call you again, or you call them, they'll expect 
 >>> you to give the same answer 
 >> 
 >> Or someone else would if that information was shared with them. 
 > 
 > How many people do you imagine would memorise such trivia ? 
 > 
 > Say John Levine's location in the years 1964, 1965, 1966.......2010, 
 > 2011, 2012.... 
 > 
 > The year was chosen by EE,  don't forget, 
 > 
 > And he was expected to answer immediately 
 > 
 > Whether he should have answered correctly in the first place ? 
 > 
 > Given he was divulging information to a potential scammer and not 
 > to EE at all ? 
 > 
 > Which would be of use to a scammer pretending to be JL who when 
 > contacting EE could answer the security question as to his 
 > location in 1964 
 > 
 > But only if EE already knew this ! 
 > 
 > Which they didn't. 
 > 
 > That's the point ! 
 > 
 > It would only be of use to a scammer, on their second call to EE. 
 > 
 > But then they could have given any location the first time round 
 > in any case. 
 > 
 > I hope this clears things up. 
  
 The point I was trying to make had nothing to do with scammers or 
 anything else illegal. It's to do with those wonderful "privacy" notices 
 which companies are fond of referring you to these days. It always 
 amuses me when they say "we'll never share your information", then 4 
 pages of small print later state that they can share you data with 
 others if they're members of the same group of companies, etc. 
  
 >>> Alternative questions might be for instance, asking for your mother's 
 >>> maiden name. (So as to open an account to pay the London Congestion 
 Charge) 
 >> 
 >> That's something which might be relatively easy for anyone to find if your 
 name is 
 >> somewhat unusual and your birth was registered in England (by using 
 FreeBMD). 
 > 
 > But not at a moment's notice; if someone asks it over the over the phone 
 > 
 > "Hold on a minute I've got it written down somewhere. Now where was it ?". 
 > 
 > Assuming anyone is going to ask for it, in the first place 
  
 So is it a usual question raised when opening an account to pay the 
 London Congestion Charge or not? 
  
 -- 
 Jeff 
  
 --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05 
  * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)