Did NRA or CMP sell our personal data?

I got an annoying phone call yesterday from a coin shop in Texas that made reference to my attending Camp Perry and thanked  me for my patriotism before launching into a sales pitch.  I have to wonder how they got my name, phone number, and connected it to Camp Perry attendance?   Would be curious to know if other Perry attendees have received calls like this.

-ag

On Monday I received a cold call on my cell phone from someone who knew my name and town, claiming to be with an investment firm.  I've never before received a cold call or any telemarketing calls on my cell phone.  I did provide the number as a contact number at Perry this year.  No reference to Perry on the call.

I'm sure all organizations do now. $$¢$$

Name and home town are listed in the results bulletins. Not too many years ago the results listed the full address. I would not put it past the NRA to sell our info, but it would not be too difficult for a totally unconnected marketing group to match names and towns in the results bulletin with info they already have from other sources.

Do you surf the web from your cell phone?  Even looking for a place to eat?  All that data is being mined.

Got a call today from an "Offical Sponcer of the marksmanship matches" at Camp Perry...

Technology exists that allows someone just to drive through a venue and ping for the phone number of any phone turned on. Then all they do is run against other data to develop the contact info. Or they just sell the numbers and the "target marketer" puts the contact info together. 

-Dave

The gentleman that called me specifically told me that they were calling all of the competitors from Camp Perry. No if or maybe there. He seemed to think that I was somehow OK with that. I understand that the NRA needs to make money. It is aggravating that I have to take my time to tell folks that I do not want to talk to to take a hike. I only purchase something over the phone if I PRESS THE BUTTONS to make the call. DennyMac.

Well that is what the little red disconnect button is on the phone for:P

dennymac wrote:The gentleman that called me specifically told me that they were calling all of the competitors from Camp Perry.

You believed him??  They could say anything, they are fishing!  No calls here, none of any of my buddies either.
Did you use your credit card to eat dinner in the area or pay for a hotel in the area or buy something on vendor row, or sign up for a drawing or.....

- Dave
I went to a motorcycle show 2 years ago and within the next 2 weeks I got 4 sales calls selling something or asking for donations, all motorcycle related.  While I was at the event I didn't use a CC, I paid cash for everything, I didn't sign up for free stuff, I bought the tickets with cash at the gate.  I didn't post anything about it on FaceBook.  The only thing I did was reply to a text and take pictures with my phone while I was there.  I also went online to check out the venue ahead of time but I didn't enter any personal info.  Those were they only ways they could have know I was there.

Your information is worth money to some companies looking to sell stuff. My home phone is unlisted and I still get calls trying to sell me stuff. I am on the national do not call registry and still get sales calls on both home and cell phone.

rebs wrote:Your information is worth money to some companies looking to sell stuff. My home phone is unlisted and I still get calls trying to sell me stuff. I am on the national do not call registry and still get sales calls on both home and cell phone.

Me too, I used to get PO'd but now I use these calls for sport.  I try and see how long I can keep them on the line.  

Have you ever gotten the Windows virus call, as soon as I hear Windows I respond with "Yes, you have reached Windows Tech Support, how may I help you"!  I actually had a guy on the line for several minutes trying to explain to him that I needed his IP address so I could remote in to his system to fix his problem.  All the time he was no, no, no, no I help you! 

Credit card fraud or reduced interest calls I'll play along and give out the fake CC #,  make them wait while I find my glasses so I can give them the right #,  go find a different card, another fake number, go get my wife so she can read it out to them, also a fake number.

It can be quite entertaining, but they are getting smarter, because I'm getting much faster hang ups now.  I'm also getting far fewer calls.

Time is money to these cretins!

- Dave

If you visit a website, it logs that event. Some people call that meta data. Meta data contains interesting info about that connection. More than you want them to know. Your computer keeps their data as cookies. Thats how you get ads on your computer that are slanted to your interests. Sort of how Facebook works as well. Even this site is tracking us in it logs and there are cookies on your computer for this site.
Stan

Anytime you do sign up or enroll in any website, be sure you look for those fun questions about "do you want to receive E-mail solicitations etc" They typically default to on and just need to be unchecked before you finalize your set-up. That cuts down on the annoying E-mails and calls as well.

SNaymola wrote: Meta data contains interesting info about that connection. 

Speaking of meta data did you know when you take a picture with any camera today it inserts meta data into the photo.  If you don't enter anything in that new camera you are kind of in the clear.  Default settings usually include everything even your location if available, cell phones can be the worst.  So pay attention to those meta data settings.  Fortunately websites like Facebook actually strips the EXIF/metadata from your photo when you upload it in an attempt to protect your privacy.

Very cool interactive map is what the phone companies know about your movements (and calls), and this article is 3 years old!
http://www.businessinsider.com/what-you-can-learn-from-phone-metadata-2013-7

Now just where were you last Tuesday at 3 o'clock??

- Dave

Most people know that you can block a list of numbers from ringing your phone.  Unfortunately, spoofing caller ID is fairly trivial for the dishonest callers and robo-calls from honest sales/survey organizations use a set of numbers anyway.  I found that approach ineffective.  Some folks are NOT aware however that you can also make a list of the ONLY numbers that will be allowed to ring your phone. AT&T in my area calls it "CALL SCREENING".  I now get zero sales and survey calls. My lawn care company, for example, isn't happy that they can't call me to "make an appointment" but they were really more interested in up-selling services anyway.  After putting friends and family numbers in the list, I was able to log into AT&T and go through phone logs to decide who else I wanted to put on the list.

Now, if the phone rings, I interrupt my dry-fire or reloading because it's someone on my list.

dennymac wrote:The gentleman that called me specifically told me that they were calling all of the competitors from Camp Perry. No if or maybe there. He seemed to think that I was somehow OK with that. I understand that the NRA needs to make money. It is aggravating that I have to take my time to tell folks that I do not want to talk to to take a hike. I only purchase something over the phone if I PRESS THE BUTTONS to make the call. DennyMac.

Yeah, I got a similar call. I didn't answer and they left a message.