Roger's Security Blog

As Chief Security Advisor of Microsoft EMEA - lets share interesting security information

Am I Too Paranoid?

Am I Too Paranoid?

  • Comments 3
  • Likes

Sometimes I wonder whether I am too paranoid. I just got a call, which went like that:

Caller: Hello, we are doing a health insurance survey and have just three questions for you, would you mind to join in? Just 20 seconds. We do it for Health Insurance statistics.
Me: Was in a very good mood Smile
Sure, shoot
Caller: What is your health insurer?
Me: Gave her the name
Caller: In which year were you born?
Me: What exactly do you need this data for?
Caller: Slightly upset
As I said: for Health Insurance statistics!
Me: And what company are your working for?
Caller: Hang up

She did not even say goodbye Embarrassed smile

Am I too paranoid with such things? This is my data and I was fairly surprised that she was unable (or unwilling) to answer the questions

Roger

Comments
  • I wouldn't have even gone as far as you did, but more out of annoyance with callers rather than data privacy.  Though I probably wouldn't have given my info either!

    Though its possible she had to churn through a lot of calls and wanted quantity over quality.

  • Usually me neither but this time, I wanted to do her a favour :-)

  • Roger,

    This is very common, especially free-holiday scam, where they take your credit card dtls and put a charge on it. They usually say that you have been given 2 nights free holiday and in order to reserve this we need to charge your credit card for $1.

    So - No you are not too paranoid, this is common practice :)

    Thanks

Your comment has been posted.   Close
Thank you, your comment requires moderation so it may take a while to appear.   Close
Leave a Comment