Another time, I was in a department store buying my favourite face cream, it’s a little expensive but it’s an occasional treat that I allow myself. The sales assistant sidled up to me and complimented me on my purchase and then offered me a ‘free facial’, but I would have to fill in all my contact and personal details for her notes – naturally she would have all my details to use in future for any other carefully selected offers she might be able to pitch to me.
I am a sucker for offers and competitions, we got cornered a few months ago, when we visited a travel show, and were badgered to enter a competition to win a holiday, we were asked what destination we would like to visit, to which we replied, South Africa, then the hard sell started,’ why don’t you want to go to Malta?, we have nothing against the country but have been already.
They phoned us night and day. I got hounded at work – then it got a bit aggressive, ‘you said you wanted a trip with us, you have wasted our time’, eventually my housemate threatened legal action, and then only the phone calls stopped.
PPI is another one, we are phoned daily with offers, at a certain time of the day I get a recorded messages advising me that I may be due PPI, I am looking into having the calls blocked.
It can be amazing how companies get your details, I was sent an email and asked to sign a petition to help save the planet, the next day I received a call, the caller announced the name of the company for the petition and asked me if I wanted another phone?
Social media information can be very valuable too, a lecturer at a University asked me to follow her on twitter, as she needs x amount of followers to run a course; she hasn’t as yet started the course. Sometimes, companies will run competitions, and get you to follow them or like them on facebook in order to gain your contacts.
One wonders who would take advantage of these offers, a company offered to pay people to subscribe to their website but the catch was you had to have 500 followers on twitter. Today I saw a freebie site, to get a packet of chips; you had to send the advert to 5 friends on Facebook.
Which goes to show that, very little is free, the ‘free’ item or service, is in exchange for your personal details and contacts. Your personal details are very valuable to some people, namely companies that will use your details for targeting advertising and offers. Some companies will send you offers based on your shopping habits online, or what they deduce from your internet browsing.
Overall it’s a good idea to read the small print and be wary of so called free offers, and competitions, that ask if they may share your details with carefully chosen third parties.
So how valuable are your personal details? Mundane details for example the colour of your eyes, gender etc is worth pennies. Personal details of people in the market for a financial product, holiday or car are worth more.
Currently in the UK, there have been many media stories on how easy it is to obtain other peoples personal details and how cheaply these details can be obtained, which in some cases has led to criminal activities, for example scamming and fraud on different levels.
About the author:
Moira Rowan
Immigrated to the UK 20 years ago, has an interest in art, culture, community and upliftment projects, is a keen cook, and has a cordon bleu qualification. Currently involved in academia and research. Loves a bargain, and is known as the Voucher Queen amongst her friends. Enjoys writing on topics that interests her. You can follower her on twitter @rowanmoira
