This is a short one – I’ve recently phoned my bank and my insurance companies. It’s not because I live a high flying lifestyle, but because I live in the modern world and you can’t do everything on the internet.
What are the security questions they ask? Mother’s maiden name, blood type (or is that only HMRC?) and BIRTHDAY.
These are all supposed to be items of information easily known to you, but more difficult for a potential thief/scammer/fraudster to know. Yet lots of people advertise this information on their publicly available Facebook profile. Perhaps they want lots of presents? Even if you hide the information on a social media site, there has been more than one data leak. (Have you ever had a friend who doesn’t password protect their computer and has had it stolen? The thief of that computer then has your information!)
So, my advice is, put an incorrect birth date on social media sites. Perhaps have it in the same month (so that you don’t get lots of surprise gifts at the wrong time of the year) unless you like having two sets of presents…
But at least you won’t receive the NASTY surprise of having your bank account emptied!
