Why do people give out so much information?

I won a prize of a holiday in Florida but no flights but was great for us because we already owned 2 weeks timeshare in Florida so was able to spend an extra 10 days there. It was a timeshare scheme but my husband had them so tied up in knots that they soon gave up.

In this day and age Big Brother is watching us in every shape way and form. It is wise to be cautious when asked randomly for personal information.

On return from a recent Tenerife holiday while in the long check in queue we noticed an official looking person going through the line asking questions. My initial thought was oh not another survey "where are you traveling to/from. Are there any connections etc." A bit like you get on buses sometimes. As he got closer we could here some questions which definitely included name, address, telephone, e-mail address. At this point I felt agitated, annoyed and intruded upon so my protection barriers were up by the time he arrived at us. He did the very polite routine of have you had a great holiday etc, which immediately relaxes you, but I stayed alert and when he asked his first question I immediately asked who he worked for. He replied with 3 letters which I had not heard of but instantly thought was either time share or a marketing company. As he continued to unblinkingly stare at me with no further comment or reassurance I bent forward and looked at the tag he had round his neck. This gave me no further info so I asked what it was for and his reply was to send special offers and info. I immediately said no thanks and he moved on. We watched and noted that the next few sets of passengers also said no.

I believe there is a psychological tendency in these situations to think it is official and we have to answer these questions. There is also a bias in following the previous persons actions.

Do not feel pressured or obliged to answer questions from strangers randomly like this or over the phone. We live in an age where we no longer leave our back doors open like granny so we must not leave our technology back door open.

I love these things because one can have so much fun if you go out to make it derisory. Recently I was told to register to use a service I had hitherto used freely for donkeys and unencumbered into the bargain Their reasoning was because they could tailor the experience to my specific circumstances
So I obediently filled in the on line registration including my DOB as 31/12/1917 - yes you got it I will be a centenarian soon. I even fabricated an email address and you know what they swallowed it hook line and centenarian. I can now use the service as I did before - unencumbered Guess you cant do much tailoring for a really old fart
So theres your clue - don't like divulging personals - wind the nosy B*****s up and have some fun at their expense

The office of national statistics (ons) employ people at airports to ask people about their travel but they should carry ID. I have a friend who has had a few free holidays , both here and abroad, by agreeing to sit through timeshare sales pitches

Good to read about someone actually winning!!

I am very wary of giving out Personal information, if some-one rings me & askes for me to confirm name, D.O.B. etc I refuse stating "you rang me, how do I know who I am talking to"

I used to work for HMRC & we often got bogus phone calls trying to get ifnormation, very few were successful.

In these days of instant communication, even if you were at the airport on your way home it would still be time enough for your house to be empty by the time you got back!

Oldwoman70 I agree I would not have given out all that information either, not a good idea at all.

I had a telephone call the other day, when I answered, a voice said "We need to speak to you urgently about your life insurance! Press 5 to be connected to an operator!"

Firstly, they DON't need to speak to me urgently or otherwise about my life insurance!

Secondly, they should have been on the line if it was that urgent!

I hung up and blocked the call!

BBC iplayer is now asking me to log in oŕ register by telling them my email, date of birth, sex and postcode.

Why?

Because you have to have a licence now to watch IPLayer

Yes you are .... but so am I...I never give information to anyone unless its official business and I'm a bit wary then! You did right to dismiss these people.

My husband is a sucker for this especially if it's a pretty girl! I do get upset though when he gives out MY info. He's got the message now and is unlikely to do it if I'm present, who knows when I'm not around!

DH has been carrying on a protracted correspondence with one of these companies that ask you to ring because you have won an incredible sum of money (he used to ring the number until I told him it was premium rate). I think he may now have given up but he was like a dog with a bone, determined to get his £30,000 or whatever. We completed the electoral form recently and I have asked for our names to be deleted from the copy that the Council sells to businesses.

I was amused by Witzends account as my husband and I once did exactly the same, having been harassed for some months over the phone to attend one of these presentations, in the hope that after we had been to one they would leave us alone.We were promised one of several prizes including a TV. We too sat through most of a long presentation( which was quite appealing actually ) and only got a cup of tea when we asked for it as we saw another couple drinking one. Our salesperson got us one rather grudgingly. We were quite interested in the timeshare, but when we said we would like time to think it over, the sales person got quite shirty with us and said that we had to sign up immediately. We said we never bought things on impulse and asked "incidentally, what was the free gift? On being told it was a clock radio we declined as we already had one and said we were leaving. She was then very rude to us and accused us of only having come out of greed! Knowing what we knoiw now about timeshares, we were very glad that we never "invested" in one!

Never give out details for obvious reasons well stated by OPs.
We had to buy a new landline a while ago and it came with BT Callguard already installed so could give out landline number easily as it is up to us to accept or decline calls. Our cold calls have plummeted! Yay!

I am amazed when people are prepared to give out personal information not only to an interviewer but to all those within hearing distance.

I filled in a form at Malaga airport last year and have just returned from the holiday I won in Fuengirola as a result. The form I filled in wasn't as detailed as the one OP describes and the 'catch' was that DH & I had to spend an afternoon being shown round the resort and listen to a sales pitch for a holiday package from the company. We got a free meal and the sales person was a nice guy. He respected our arguments as to why we didn't want to buy. All in all we got a lovely week's holiday in glorious Spanish sunshine, just for filling a few details on a piece of paper. I haven't noticed an increase in junk mail or spam emails either.

exactly thats just what I was talking about
make is derisory sign up as SAM the bogey man!!!

Ages ago now, but I was collared in central London by a 'chugger' for a charity for the blind - chuggers were quite a new thing then.
I did sign up for a small monthly donation, but declined to give my age or phone number, on the grounds that my age wasn't relevant (I knew they only wanted it for pigeonholing/marketing purposes) and I certainly didn't want anyone ringing me.
The chugger didn't object.

However soon afterwards I had a letter from the charity, saying they were 'unable to,process your application' without this information!
I was stunned by the cheek of the wording - as if I was asking them for money, not the other way around! The letter went in the bin, and of course the monthly fiver came out of my account anyway.
I really should have replied with something like, 'In that case I'm sorry to say I will have to cancel the direct debit.'
But it was a bona fire charity, so I didn't.
But I do wonder how many people would meekly have complied.
I dare say some psychobabble expert would have told them that such wording would make most people comply.