Beware of scams asking by phone for personal info

My wife got an automatic call identifying itself as from CVS pharmacy, asking for my date of birth. She complied. Then there was an "error", end of phone call. I would never do this, but she was caught at a weak moment. CVS pharmacy states they did not call, and do not ask for such information.

This is what as known as “social engineering” — just ask for the information. And there are plenty of legitimate businesses out there that will screw you by considering a date of birth “proof” of your identity as a reasonable security check.

So now my date of birth is presumably in a bot network somewhere over in Russia or China, etc. At least it was not my SSN, but the power of these criminal networks is in advanced data collection and cross referencing to defraud. One more reason it should be a felony to ask for a SSN for any purpose whatsoever except purely tax matters.

Don’t let that happen to you, whether by computer or by phone. Hours of work lie ahead to lock things down— I already know hackers have been trying to access my mac.com account, repeatedly over the past year.