How do they know this info. Scary

Bob Gibson

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Location
Merrimack, New Hampshire
I shopped at Trader Joes grocery this morning while I was out working on my honey do list. Just picked up a few things that my wife likes that we can't get anywhere else. They announced over the store speaker system that they had special discounts and coupons if you signed up for their email announcements. When I checked out the cashier asked me if I wanted to sign up and I said no thanks and paid with my debit card.
When I got home and checked my email there was an email from trader joes welcoming me to their discount program. I didn't give anyone there my email address :dunno::dunno::dunno::eek::eek:

Did they get this info from my bank card ????

All this tracking and loss of personal information and privacy is really starting to worry me.
 
I'm sure they just contracted with the NSA to get it. Simple, really...

Not even sure staying offline will keep your privacy...
 
This is NOT a jab at Bob G. and how his data got to Trader Joes. Just a general statement about digital data.

I gotta laugh when people tell me Facebook stole info from them.

I would bet at one time or another they gave the info and that somewhere in very fine print (very fine print ) they were told this was happening.

Case in point. Person says - Facebook released where I live. Did you ever upload a photo taken with your phone to Facebook? Of course.

You do know that most modern cell phones include location data within the image data of photos taken! ---- I did not know that.

I have no sympathy for people who give away their data then complain that it was stolen.

Example - The recent celebrity private photo release. Did they upload these photos and really expect them to remain private.

Today once you transmit anything by any medium it is in the public domain.

It all started with unauthorized people reading smoke singles that were not intended for them.
 
How is your opinion about Trader Joes now that they did this?

Doesn't it make you want to do business with Trader Toms, or Trader Bills instead?

Penny smart pound foolish on their part.

Certain businessmen take pleasure in gaining from trickery vs from fair dealing.

It has always been so, but more often than not, they hit the windshelid like a bug in July.

Very short sighted on their part if you ask me.
 
Has anyone ever noticed that almost all web pages have advertisements - even youtube.

Even more interesting is that those advertisements are in YOUR personal interest.

That is NOT just dumb luck.

Yes - search on some odd item and ads for that type of item start showing up on most of your web pages.
 
no one is safe.
my wife and I are very cautious.
we were the victims of identity theft back in the mid 2000's.
It was the most stressful thing in our lives.
There is nothing anyone can do, if you use cell phones, credit cards, your security is wide open.
 
... There is nothing anyone can do, ...

We have very little issue with annoying email and no issue with credit card fraud. Not that the rest of the world can't get to some of our personal information, but there are a few things we do to ward off some issues.

Online purchases: Sites with which we do business regularly are NOT fly-by-night outfits. If we research an item and the best price leads to an "iffy" site, we bail out and go elsewhere. For stores like Lowe's, the store site gets one email address; the credit card site gets a different email address. I use PayPal for purchases on sites like eBay to add a layer. I could go on and on.

Credit cards: We use Discover for most purchases because it, like some other cards, has great fraud protection. They have notified us of a couple of occasions where they suspected fraudulent transactions, killed our cards and rushed new ones to us.

As to the email addresses to which I referred, I have at least a dozen different addresses in order to isolate where an issue develops. If necessary, I delete an address and set up a new one, but haven't had to do that in many years.
 
I'm not sure how Trader Joe's would have gotten your address, and it seems quite unlike them to use it without your permission. They're usually pretty socially conscious. (But I don't dispute what you're saying, by any means.)

...As to the email addresses to which I referred, I have at least a dozen different addresses in order to isolate where an issue develops. If necessary, I delete an address and set up a new one, but haven't had to do that in many years.

I assign a unique address to every vendor or site I register on. I have roughly 300 different addresses. That way I can easily track which vendor or website has sold or lost my address to scammers and spammers. When one of those addresses starts generating too much spam (like Ticketmaster or Dropbox), I simply delete it and stop doing business with the company if possible.
 
bill, most reputable credit card companies have great fraud depts.
Recently, we had a an 8 dollar charge made to one of our cards somewhere in the Midwest, and the bank immediately notified us, no more than 10 minutes after the charge was made, they called me. The card was suspended and we went into branch to get a new card.

I first learned of my problem when I went to withdraw money out of an account, and the bank refused access.
I learned later that day, all my accounts were frozen through courts due to fraudulent charges made to me, not my cards.
Its impossible to prove the charges aren't yours, and upon legal advice after reading all the paperwork, I was told not to pursue or investigate on my own because the people who deal in this type of business would bury you in the weeds.
If you've charge anything on any card in any store, anyone can steal info from you. There are 10 y/0 kids with enough computer knowledge that could hack into accounts.
People who work in hospitals and doctors offices sell your info for cash.Its difficult to judge who you can trust these days.
fortunately, most people are honest enough they wouldn't consider doing something to hurt other people, but there are enough criminals to keep fraud investigators busy forever.
 
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I'm not sure how Trader Joe's would have gotten your address, and it seems quite unlike them to use it without your permission. They're usually pretty socially conscious. (But I don't dispute what you're saying, by any means.)


I agree. That why I was really surprised.
I thought that maybe my wife or myself had given them our email at one point in the past for something but we have never received an email from them before that I can remember. If it was an email saying thanks for stopping in I wouldn't of thought much about it but it specifically said it was confirmation of signing up for their program.
 
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