Internet scams

[paradox3]

Lots and lots of family information is often shared in obituaries as well. And obits are very searchable.

 

[ninj]

I think it's sad that genealogy sites are used by scammers. Someone contacted me on Ancestry, and even though he claimed distantly related, and threw familiar names out, he seemed focused on my immediate info. Also he appeared to be "researching" a massive number of families. It could have been sincere, but my "Spidey sense" was that it wasn't, do I went with that. He has disappeared since.

 

[paradox3]

On Ancestry, living people are blanked out on the actual family trees. But there are certain searches that bring up the names of people who are alive. Sorry I can't be specific but it might have been through looking at photos. Not really sure now.

 

[paradox3]

And of course if you do the DNA test, you will receive the names of many folks who have taken the test as well.

 

[ChemGal]

Names of relatives can be sometimes be easily found in some genealogy sites. Ancestry generally does include info re living relatives - just a blank space, but I imagine not all are conscientous. Also on fb, sometimes people list relationship to people in the friends list etc.

Maybe a possibility with my cousin. With my sister and parents there would be a lot of phone numbers that would come up using their names - and the area codes aren't even the same to cut down on that.

 

[Mrs.Anteater]

Today on the radio a warning of an Android phone hack that gets downloaded with free apps and then secretly gets all your passwords by monitoring your tapping on the keyboard. You don’t even know you got the program.

 

[Mendalla]

Today on the radio a warning of an Android phone hack that gets downloaded with free apps and then secretly gets all your passwords by monitoring your tapping on the keyboard. You don’t even know you got the program.

Android Trojans (the type of software you describe) are incredibly common, almost dime a dozen now. I pretty much stick to name brand (meaning developers I know or who have a good reputation) apps these days. Too much else is risky. Would help if Google would tighten up the way Apple and Amazon have but they seem to have a certain pride in being the most "open" app store.

 

[Waterfall]

Not sure if anyone posted this already or not, but it looks like google is offering Dark Web monitoring for free for users beginning this month to check if hackers have exposed their emails or personal information on the dark web.