Am I being unreasonable to remain silent ?

www.parkinsonproperty.co.uk/news_more.asp?news_id=48¤t_id=1

No, you are not unreasonable.

Granny from the land registry helped lawyer and banker steal empty homes from the elderly www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2109539/Granny-land-registry-helped-steal-homes-elderly.html?ito=native_share_article-top

I’m naive too when it comes to hacking.
I used to think that I had nothing to hide so I didn’t mind but it’s not about that is it ?

Maybe I'm naive but I can't see how it's an issue to say which part of the country/major city we live in - I live in the south east of England and there are millions of others who do.

Thats fine if its your only post.
People need to be aware of how much accumulated info they put on, and how easily the dots can be joined up.

Espee it is assuming the idebtity of the owner in order to transfer the deeds. Usually selling to a 3rd party.

As it is a civil matter it is extremely expensive and lengthy to reclaim ownership. The new owner has sometimes also been defrauded and as such, having paid for the property and being registered on the land registry, may understandable be reluctant to simply pass back posession having paid for it.

Sometimes the new "owner" never gets occupier posession and sometimes they do, in which case you are homeless.

It is a lot harder to do on a leasehold or mortgaged property so demographis who may be mortgage free are targeted.

It is wise to be aware of the risks, but let us ask what the probabilities are. Yes, it has happened a couple of times, but over how many years, over how many members and casual visitors, but overall, unless you post your name address and telephone number, you are pretty safe on GN.

Notanan - I don't know how land registry fraud works but wouldn't Rightmove and Zoopla give more information for fraudsters than anything on the house buying/selling threads here?

No. It doesnt give information about the type of owner. Land registry/titpe fraudsters need to target mortgage free properties mainly. Having a mortgage somewhat protects you. It doesnt give info about which properties are vacant and when etc and the fraudsters usually need to intercept your post so the info people post on the buy/sell thread often gives that as people chat about setting up redirections etc.

Title fraud is very lucritive so worth the effort for them. It does require targetting a certain type of person though (mortgage free, interceptable post) so rightmove is not where they will look. Also a property currently being marketed for sale is no good to them as it will be having land registry searches. They need one that has already exchanged.

@notanan2
I would be very grateful if you could explain land registry fraud.

Maybe I'm naive but I can't see how it's an issue to say which part of the country/major city we live in - I live in the south east of England and there are millions of others who do.
Facebook sometimes has threads where people are asked for their Birthdays/birth dates, middle names, maiden names etc. which obviously gives information to fraudsters.

Notanan - I don't know how land registry fraud works but wouldn't Rightmove and Zoopla give more information for fraudsters than anything on the house buying/selling threads here?

It’s not necessary to know where we all live, you’re quite right to be cautious.

It's very sad that even 'friendly' GN can be abused. sad

Its not necessarily going to be another poster.
For every poster there are god knows how many readers and lurkers who dont post.
Its an open forum.
You may feel you "know" the other posters on a thread but you have no idea who else is lurking and reading.
You dont even have to be a member to read

The house/buying thread is one of the worst. There are several posters on there whose exact house could be identified if one was so inclined. And being GN some people will have paid off mortgages and will be buying with 100% equity. Mortgage free properties are very vulnerable to land registry fraud and its not that uncommon.

Urmston and Jane10 Exactly! Which just goes to show how devious some people can be! It's very sad that even 'friendly' GN can be abused.

I think as long as your username has no connection with your actual name and you’ve only indicated the area/county, folks with evil intent would be hard pushed to pin point your actual home.

Thats not true. Not if youve chatted about your home a lot on the buying/selling thread as well for example.

Its not hard for people to link up your past posts.

Posts can also be used to groom children/grandchildren as they can be used to build trust and imply the groomer "knows" the family.

Its not that "out there" its happened on two forums Im on.
One was a specialist hobby forum that was being used to "steal to order".
Another, a poster had compiled files on other posters: collating everything they posted on individual threads all together. This was "just" used to bully posters online but people were really shocked about the things he knew: they had forgotten how much they had posted on prior threads.

Another forum again, a poster copy and pasted threads into a word doc.

The daily mail often lifts forum posts for their femail section, you might feel confident that nobody involvef in the situation who would recognise the people are reading GN, but they might see the mail piece (you dont have to be a DM reader to see them they go viral on SM)

There was one poster (cant remember the name ,sorry) who was appalled that a 'nice' person from here printed out her posts re her boss and sent it to him!!

I think I know the incident you refer to but the photograph that had been put up before being deleted at the poster’s request was an unusual one I suppose and enabled neighbours to put 2+2 together quite easily.

It would be daft to give your address but the area isn't a problem

I disagree! There was a very unpleasant incident in 'real life' because someone had been outed without having given their home address. A GNetter had obviously been collating enough information from various threads to track them down.

There was a similar thread to this about 5 years ago. I said I was careful not to name the town I lived near but received a PM from another GNetter saying s/he would have no trouble finding me from lots of different things I’d said, It was just a one-liner and I admit I did find it rather sinister. As pointed out above, we do contribute in so many ways via different threads and this info could be added together to identify where we come from and possibly who we are. Posting pictures of GC I think is quite risky unless they are quite small. It’s sad to realise this but we are open to anyone with a phone.

Gemini1789, I think you are being very sensible. If someone really wants to find about you, they will.
It's so much easier nowadays, thanks to technology. An internet search can bring up so much personal information about an individual.

I would never post pictures of my DGD online, but it is easy to let your guard down, on a chatty thread.

We don't have to contribute to any threads we don't feel comfortable with, where we live, how old we are, are we religious or anything else we feel it's private. Just put: 'No comment' or skip it altogether.

I’m hiding in plain sight.
?

I am astonished at the photographs of named grandchildren in school uniform, clearly displaying logos of their school brandishing certificates for good behaviour naming their school and class, accompanied by much additional information about the area they inhabit.
Basic child protection.

I'm very careful. Your house insurance can be invalid if you're burgled whilst away on holiday whilst posting lots of photos and details of where you are on Facebook. Some folks find they've shared their photos not just with Facebook Friends, but Friends of Friends etc. Dangerous.