CAUTION!!

Post by **chameleon** » Sat 16 Jun, 2012 8:21 pm

I've just had a pop-up inviting me to take part in a survey as a visitor to the forum.I'm not sure at all that this is legitimate but I am sure dsco would have forewarned us in genuine.Maybe over cautious but think carefully before opening just perchance it contains a nasty - perhaps wise just to close and ignore

buffaloskinner · Post by **buffaloskinner** » Sat 16 Jun, 2012 10:36 pm

This is one of the pitfalls of all these pop ups and surveys online, even though you may have cancelled out on the Telephone Preference Service because you have entered details on these online surveys etc it becomes immaterialThe proof is in the pudding as they say, so always say no and close the survey ad and don’t allow pop-ups.How your details end up in the hands of cold callersCold callers irritate us all with calls at terrible times, flogging all sorts of rubbish. And even if you sign up for TPS, they can still get your number.Why do I bother answering the home phone when I am doing something else? It's rarely welcome – and often annoying.So there I was, on Jubilee Sunday, watching the River Thames pageant when the phone rang. It was an Indian call centre guy with a pretend English name and a mangled version of mine. I shouldn't complain about his English – my Hindi is non-existent.He offered a “marketing survey” which would “only take a minute or two”. As there was a bit of a lull in the parade, I decided to go along with it. But it soon became clear that this was not the usual run through of dozens of categories such as gym membership or motoring followed by the names of major firms and charities, all part of a process to ensure that subsequent calls and mailshots would be better targeted.Outside the rulesInstead, he was an investment warm-up man. The financial watchdog, the Financial Services Authority (FSA), bans cold calling. But the investment was carbon credit trading which is not regulated and so outside cold calling rules.“Where did you find my name and phone number?” I asked. Now the beauty of this marketing call was that he claimed my details came from a previous marketing call. And no doubt that one had relied on one before that. So, I might be signed up to the Telephone Preference Service (TPS), which is intended to prevent cold calling, but I wasn't cold at all. Because of my previous “marketing call” I was now a warm, even hot, prospect.He also had my address as I realised when he offered to post me a carbon credit brochure – it has not yet arrived and I reckon it won't. The reason? Offering to send out something gives the next person in the carbon sales chain the chance to phone me to ask if I have received it. When I say “no”, he'll have the excuse to pressure me again – and then have another go when the booklet finally appears.Move home and change your phone numbersI now realise there is no way that I can escape these calls without drastic action. I would have to change my home phone and mobile numbers, although altering the latter won't prevent those “we know you have had an accident and can claim £3,750” texts. It would probably help if I moved home as well. But that won't be enough if I am stupid enough in the future to tick (or sometimes simply forget to untick) those boxes which ask if I am happy to receive communications from “carefully selected third parties.”I once thought that meant that if I bought a computer, I would receive information about software and accessories. Wrong. Instead, the third parties are “carefully selected” to be those that pay the most for a list. That then ends up with a list broker who sells my information on again and again.How I ended up on the listI asked a law firm acting for a carbon credit trader about cold calling and how my details were on the list. The answer was in solicitor speak so it was hardly a model of clarity – in fact, it was confusingly vague and without any pretence precision. My comments are in italics.It said: “Unlike many other brokerages, our client company does not rely on 'investment register' leads (presumably from shareholder lists). Instead, our client only uses stems (whatever they are) from people who have completed telephone surveys (whatever content they have) and opted-in to receiving further details from third parties. Of the total amount of data purchased, this constitutes 60% (a surprisingly round and presumably inaccurate number). The remaining 40% of data originates from leads including tailor-made telemarketing campaigns, email bulletins, email campaigns and referrals.”So when you next get a call you think is cold, it isn't. It's piping hot and from one of the sources above.Forget complaining about cold calling or asking where they got your details. Either slam the phone down as soon as you hear that unmistakeable call centre buzz – or waste their time by putting the receiver near a radio.

Phill_dvsn · Post by **Phill_dvsn** » Sat 16 Jun, 2012 10:47 pm

Dam adverts, leaflets, spam, cold calls, ads on social network sites e.t.c!!To be honest the world is bombarded with it these days, to the point were people are sick and tired of it, we either don't notice it's there, or just decline and say no thanks without hesitation, we seem to have programmed ourselves to do that to deal with this dam irritation.Advertising has gone past saturation point, and it's counter-productive to the market men. We either just ignore it totally, or say no thanks to things as a matter of course, even before we know what they are trying to sell to us!!

Post by **chameleon** » Sat 16 Jun, 2012 11:05 pm

'The proof is in the pudding as they say, so always say no and close the survey ad and don’t allow pop-ups'Ceretainly my philosophy buf mate, I saw that disitation on the Yahoo page earlier today. Not always easy to stay anonymous these days, noticed how many online sellers make entering your phone number obligatory? If you're dealing online, they can contact you on line. Three options, enter the requisite number of digits all as zroes - most sites accept them! If it won't, make up a number or lastly if you don't feel happy with potentially landing someone else with a problem from doing that - shop elsewhere and write and tell the other dealer why they've lost your businessI have written to dsco so he has the opportunity to check that the site hasn't been hijacked but thought it wise to alert everyone too. Done a full checkof my machine and it's clean.

Post by **chameleon** » Sat 16 Jun, 2012 11:10 pm

Phill_dvsn wrote: Dam adverts, leaflets, spam, cold calls, ads on social network sites e.t.c!!To be honest the world is bombarded with it these days, to the point were people are sick and tired of it, we either don't notice it's there, or just decline and say no thanks without hesitation, we seem to have programmed ourselves to do that to deal with this dam irritation.Advertising has gone past saturation point, and it's counter-productive to the market men. We either just ignore it totally, or say no thanks to things as a matter of course, even before we know what they are trying to sell to us!! More to the point Phill, if a business shows so little respect towards you in ignoring your request to be left alone, do they really think you'd risk doing business with them having seen their 'customer service'One of the blessings of having our sponsor conections here is that the site has to remain impartial so the advertising issue doesn't arise!btw, I can send you a link to a profitable working from home set-up..... (sorry mate)

simong · Post by **simong** » Sat 16 Jun, 2012 11:13 pm

If you use Firefox or Chrome there is a plugin called AdBlock Pro that will block ads pretty effectively. In the spirit of balance though, I do have to say that I earn my living supporting websites that make their income through advertising. Not that it stops me using AdBlock.

Phill_dvsn · Post by **Phill_dvsn** » Sat 16 Jun, 2012 11:23 pm

chameleon wrote: btw, I can send you a link to a profitable working from home set-up..... (sorry mate) No thanks, I think I'll give those spam links a miss I actually checked my e-mail log ins after the spate of spammy e-mail links sent from my account last week (only just found out how to do that) It had a notification about a suspicious log in from the Philippines, and if it wasn't me I needed to change my password, which of course I did. The cheeky sods hacking my e-mail, apparently it's becoming a bit of an epidemic at the moment.http://forums.macresource.com/read.php? ... 373827This just shows what information about you a website can get from you just visiting their page, I have a gadget halfway down my flickr profile herehttp://www.flickr.com/people/phill_dvsn/It acts like a mirror, your basically seeing yourself, or your online information about yourself, no one else can see it as they all see a different thing of course. But it tells you what your I.P address is, your Internet service provider, what computer system you are using, where you live, and even what browser you are using!So no wonder we get bombed with spam and unwanted pop ups and e-mails e.t.c.

Post by **chameleon** » Sun 17 Jun, 2012 4:12 am

This information is easily obtained for anywhere you go phill but doesn't allow access to your systems by itself. Don't worry too muh about location either, that comes from where the server seen to be, where your contact is aparently sent from. You can direct your output through remote proxy servers to give a false impression.The use of adequate security on your machine and 'strong' passwords, changed frequently, is a major method of protection.

somme1916 · Post by **somme1916** » Sun 17 Jun, 2012 4:12 am

buffaloskinner wrote: This is one of the pitfalls of all these pop ups and surveys online, even though you may have cancelled out on the Telephone Preference Service because you have entered details on these online surveys etc it becomes immaterialThe proof is in the pudding as they say, so always say no and close the survey ad and don’t allow pop-ups.How your details end up in the hands of cold callersCold callers irritate us all with calls at terrible times, flogging all sorts of rubbish. And even if you sign up for TPS, they can still get your number.Why do I bother answering the home phone when I am doing something else? It's rarely welcome – and often annoying.So there I was, on Jubilee Sunday, watching the River Thames pageant when the phone rang. It was an Indian call centre guy with a pretend English name and a mangled version of mine. I shouldn't complain about his English – my Hindi is non-existent.He offered a “marketing survey” which would “only take a minute or two”. As there was a bit of a lull in the parade, I decided to go along with it. But it soon became clear that this was not the usual run through of dozens of categories such as gym membership or motoring followed by the names of major firms and charities, all part of a process to ensure that subsequent calls and mailshots would be better targeted.Outside the rulesInstead, he was an investment warm-up man. The financial watchdog, the Financial Services Authority (FSA), bans cold calling. But the investment was carbon credit trading which is not regulated and so outside cold calling rules.“Where did you find my name and phone number?” I asked. Now the beauty of this marketing call was that he claimed my details came from a previous marketing call. And no doubt that one had relied on one before that. So, I might be signed up to the Telephone Preference Service (TPS), which is intended to prevent cold calling, but I wasn't cold at all. Because of my previous “marketing call” I was now a warm, even hot, prospect.He also had my address as I realised when he offered to post me a carbon credit brochure – it has not yet arrived and I reckon it won't. The reason? Offering to send out something gives the next person in the carbon sales chain the chance to phone me to ask if I have received it. When I say “no”, he'll have the excuse to pressure me again – and then have another go when the booklet finally appears.Move home and change your phone numbersI now realise there is no way that I can escape these calls without drastic action. I would have to change my home phone and mobile numbers, although altering the latter won't prevent those “we know you have had an accident and can claim £3,750” texts. It would probably help if I moved home as well. But that won't be enough if I am stupid enough in the future to tick (or sometimes simply forget to untick) those boxes which ask if I am happy to receive communications from “carefully selected third parties.”I once thought that meant that if I bought a computer, I would receive information about software and accessories. Wrong. Instead, the third parties are “carefully selected” to be those that pay the most for a list. That then ends up with a list broker who sells my information on again and again.How I ended up on the listI asked a law firm acting for a carbon credit trader about cold calling and how my details were on the list. The answer was in solicitor speak so it was hardly a model of clarity – in fact, it was confusingly vague and without any pretence precision. My comments are in italics.It said: “Unlike many other brokerages, our client company does not rely on 'investment register' leads (presumably from shareholder lists). Instead, our client only uses stems (whatever they are) from people who have completed telephone surveys (whatever content they have) and opted-in to receiving further details from third parties. Of the total amount of data purchased, this constitutes 60% (a surprisingly round and presumably inaccurate number). The remaining 40% of data originates from leads including tailor-made telemarketing campaigns, email bulletins, email campaigns and referrals.”So when you next get a call you think is cold, it isn't. It's piping hot and from one of the sources above.Forget complaining about cold calling or asking where they got your details. Either slam the phone down as soon as you hear that unmistakeable call centre buzz – or waste their time by putting the receiver near a radio. About right old lad.....I just don't let 'em faze me.We all get 'em though.Like all spam,junk,or whatever........just delete at first opportunity.

Riponian · Post by **Riponian** » Sun 17 Jun, 2012 9:13 am

I'd go with using the pop-up blocking settings in Firefox, Adblock (well it gets rid of you seeing those adverts) and a tracking cookie killer such as Ghostery.If you are really feeling a bit threatened, you could always use a live Linux disk - boot off that and it leaves no trace on your machine and may even persuade to leave the "Dark Side".Seems I keep missing calls from Liverpool on my spare mobile, from some ambulance chasing company, no doubt about an accident I'm supposed to have been in.