I just received in the mail my renewal notice for Coin World and Coin Values magazines. Along with my renewal notice was the renewal notice for another collector, who's name I will not give out, who lives about forty miles away from me. It has his full name, address(with apartment number), City, State and nine digit postal code. With that information I was able to find his phone number. I called his number to tell him about it but got an answering machine. I didn't leave a message. I hung up and called the phone number on my renewal notice for Coin World but their closed until Monday. I'm sure it was accidental but if I were this guy I would be livid to find out that that they gave out my personal information to a stranger. I'm as honest as they come but as you know there are people out there that would use this information to do unspeakable things. I plan on continuing to reach this gentleman to inform him of Coin World's mistake and also to contact the publisher on Monday. In your opinion, if anything, what should the magazine do to make up for this error?
Identity theft is a real problme, but let's not get paranoid about this sort of common postal "foulup". In the first place, the problem undoubtedly originated in the postal system, not the magazine. I get at least a couple of pieces of mail for other people in my PO box every year, and it's certainly not unheard of for me to get some of a neighbor's mail, or for a neighbor to get some of mine, when a delivery person makes a mistake. In the second place, if you found the phone number that easily, my guess is it's a listed number, in which case the gentlemen has himself put all the information you have out for public consumption. In general ID theft requires a birth date, a social security number, a credit card number, or some other type of financial account number or personal information, etc. If just name/address/phone number were enough, everyone in the phone book would be at high risk.
I agree. I don't see this as any kind of identity theft or even a big deal. I know the names of about five of my neighbors. I also obviously know their address and postal code. If this is a serious problem, people better start taking the numbers off the front of their houses......
Knowing the person has enough interest in rare coins to subscribe to two coin related magazines indicates he may be a good target for a break-in. Don't you think? I wasn't so concerned about identity theft as I was a burglary.
this was probably a mistake made by a third party that processes the magazine's subscription. nothing "personal" was disclosed, only public information. there's a lot of free public information out there if you know how to search the net. for example, go to www.peoplefinders.com and type in your name and address. you may see your spouse's name, your parents' names, your kids' names and your siblings' names associated with you. if you share any "public" records (bank accounts, real estate, life insurance policy, etc.) with them you may find the association. now, that's scary! apparently, the definition of "public" information and "private" information is not what most of us expect. there are other sites that allow you to see who holds title to your home, what the assessed taxes are, etc. there's lots of potentially damaging info out there and if your internet search skills are good you can find out lots about anyone. here in california you can pay the dmv and get the car owner's name and address. in the past you could get it anonymously, but now they track who pays for the info. i've searched the net and found the name of the living trust that i've set up with my wife, and i've found addresses of rental properties we own linked to our trust name. what can i do about it? nothing!
In my opinion, that's not much worse than the exposure that anyone gains by subscribing to or receiving any kind of mail related to coins. It's certainly not good, but I wouldn't overreact either. It would be nice to let the other person know though and then they can make their own decision about what to do, if anything.
If someone examined the unsolicited real mail I receive, one would think that I was enormously wealthy. I receive advertisements all the time for rare coins, high-cost ocean cruises, expensive vacations, "financial planning for millionaires", art prints, etc.
I'm already just a bit nervous about getting coinworld, coinvalues and numismatic news all sent to my home address. This story is a little bit worrying. Just let the guy know. In the times we're living in though, I think almost everyone is a potential target, not just coin collectors. All anyone can do is be vigilant and try to protect their home.
That is why you get a PO box for all your coin mail. The only mail that comes in the post box at home is stuff that ends up in the recycle bin.
It is so easy for the folding machine that rifolds bills and what have you to feed more than one sheet into teh folder at the same time.....once they are folded togheter they just get stuck in.... now if it was just their bill in the envelope, that may be more cause for concern
Right on. It was a mistake, that's all... we all make 'em. It's easy to couple someone's name with their address and phone number. That's nowhere near identity theft. No harm, no foul.
