General Chat

are we all aware of all/any risks?

Hate to be paranoid & overly worry people, but are we all aware of all/any risks involved with this hobby? Do you know of good web sites or articles regarding these topics? Re. 'Genealogy Fraud' & " financial institutions like banks and credit card companies frequently use mothers' maiden names as security codes........... " I found: http://kutv(.)com/gephardt/local_story_324120502(.)html and re. 'Identity Theft' I found BBC news about Derek Bond: http://news(.)bbc(.)co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/3241537(.)stm I do wonder just how Derek Sykes stole Derek Bond's identity?! What are others thoughts on these topics? Have you found good websites relating to these topics?

Hi Yes, it is possible to use genealogy research to steal an identity. Usually, this will entail obtaining the B/cert of someone deceased. Not usually someone living. Identity theft is commonly committed by stealing someones credit details, from waste bins and the like. Don't just bin your bank and credit card statements, shred or burn them. Your id can also quite easily be hacked from your computer, even with virus & firewall in place. Beleive me, I had it happen. Inadvertently whilst shopping for computer parts, clicked onto a site with no secure settings. Cost my card company £400. It has been estimated that there are about 2000 cases a year of identity theft via genealogy research. Yes, 2000 to many, but compare that to the billions lost each year via card theft, card cloning, double swiping your card, and various other methods, it is small fry. Incidentally, do you religiously watch your card being swiped in say a restaurant - the most common place to lose your details. Badger Bill Worthing

Sometime ago when I was logged on here with my real name I entered part of my tree- one day I entered my surname on search and found some names which matched, I contacted the "envelope" but she refused to answer. Then I entered my maiden name on search to discover matching names entered by the same "envelope" Then oneday I found she had " stolen" all my entries but added Bucks in the place of birth for everyone( including my self and my husband!!! I complained to GC but they only had the authority to make her remove my husband and mine as we were living. I have not been able to make her give my tree back. I did get a very abusive email from her but she could not give me a motive for doing it. I have since changed my name and very rarely come on here, when I used to come on every day and regularly gave tips. One woman has totally destroyed my enjoyment of this site as well as causing my surname entries to be inaccurate.

Hi Anna You don't need a computer for I.D.Fraud, this is what happend to my son a few years ago and it was a nightmare. He had his I.D. used by a boy that he had been all through school with from the age of five they were great friends until we found out what he was doing. My son was 14yrs old when the letter arrived about non payments of fines,then it was the police coming to the house about stealing and dangerous driving we went to court no end of times trying to clear his name but it wasn't until three years later a policeman called to our house and asked to see my son as this man was the original arresting officer he then said this wasn't the boy concerned but we still had to go to the courts to prove it. Before it was all over my son was made out to be a criminal he had no appology from the court or police,the only thing we were told to do is give my son's name and photo so if anyone giving that name was to be arrested and charged. My son's so called friend is now inside through drugs,the fines have stopped at least we hope so.But this has ruined my son now as he doesn't go out and he has no confidence as he is afraid of somthing else happening again.Sorry this is so long but I am so angry.What happend to innocent until proven guilty. So please be aware of what could happen. Jill

hi, i mentioned this topic along when i started genesconnected and it threw up quite a few views. my great grandfathers great great grandson received a copy of his family tree from another cousin and posted all the details on the internet openly. he did not ask the cousin if it was ok to do so, he posted all the details on genesconnected and ancestry. the information he received was a file of 3000 people connected to one surname, this included lots of living individuals. i had contacted him about 30 times asking to speak to him, would he call me, after all he posted my details, my childrens details , my parents, my uncles, you name it, it was there. he did not return a single call, eventually i had an email saying "i will contact you shortly" that was it, i never heard from him again. the problem was my uncle had his name used, we dont know how, they took his date of birth and area and got all the details from his birth record, they knew his wifes name and maiden name and found out where they were married, they knew his mothers anem and also what occupation he was in, they also had his childrens date of births. it was all stopped before anything much happened but the point was someone who he did not know had all this stuff on him in a big file and it could have been used to obtain anythnig. the only way we can stop this happening is not to post living peoples details on GC, use alias names for immediate individuals that you have to include. dont give copies of your tree to anyone unless they can prove the link. only share dead individuals details.... gc deleted this contact who posted the info under the guidance of the privacy policy. ancestry werent so helpful but did change names to "living" but they still appear. lots of people still have their living relatives on this site and i am rather concerned but cant do anything about it. people also have allowed me access to thier trees beacuse i did a look up for them. please protect your trees, someone may just abuse the information you are sharing....

I only have my very basic direct line tree on here, the full works is kept elsewhere. I only open my tree if I think there may be a link, otherwise I 'delete contact' after a few days. You don't need to keep it there if you have communicated directly, as you will have that persons e-mail address anyway from their reply to you. Don't get me wrong, I will share info and am happy to help anyone, but the whole idea of having to have a password is to keep info private and make it your choice. Many people probably have no idea of the risks, so bravo for publicising it so well. Maz. XX

Very Many Thanks to all that have taken the trouble to contribute to this thread & helped to raise awareness/remind us of potential risks. I was very sorry to read your individual horror stories, which left me quite gobsmacked, I have to say. On the bright side, hopefully your contributions will enable both newcomers & old hands alike to be more aware of the potential risks, & so help reduce potential problems in the future. More thoughts & contributions to the topic still welcome! Take care everyone Anna