Cash in the house

Skegness , when I visited, seems to have “cash only Fleur” everywhere apart from big shops like Boots and Iceland !

Good

Too many people want to control others.

Although I suppose Silverbrooks is theoretically correct, it’s also true that a lot of burglaries are opportunistic- which house on the street looks the least secure etc.

It always surprises me too how many people shut all their curtains whenever they go away.
I certainly haven’t got a burglar’s mindset but for instance I can always tell when a family a few doors down is on holiday by that very fact.

Incidentally I’m sure the name GrannyIvy was used as a fictitious one and the address certainly was, but I’ve got a feeling there is a GN member with that name.

Most of us on the Good morning thread don’t actually give the town they live in, GNHQ advises against giving out personal details.

Incidentally I’m sure the name GrannyIvy was used as a fictitious one and the address certainly was, but I’ve got a feeling there is a GN member with that name.

There is and inappropriate to use that name as an example.

I mostly use cards but like to have a small amount of cash in my purse for things like donations for coffee at a charity event I attend weekly, or the odd purchase at the market. It does concern me that we are so dependant on technology and these cyber attacks seem to be becoming more frequent, but now there are places that don't accept cash. I don't know how my mum would have coped if she was still alive as she did everything with cash or cheques.. I still use 1 or 2 cheques a year and wouldn't want them to be discontinued altogether.

Doodledog

I was asking about emergency money, and more than once tried to stop the move towards people over sharing. I’m not sure that details about Gladys in Macclesfield will be all over the Dark Web though. That does seem like scaremongering.

Oh, thank goodness for that Doodledog

Gladys Jones
23 Railway Cuttings
Macclesfield

Silverbrooks

It’s neither paranoid nor scaremongering. It’s being sensible about what someone divulges on a public forum.

If it’s possible to get someone’s email address through a database hack (which it is) then that opens the door to piece together all kinds of data about a person’s life - just as the Police and HMRC do in investigations - part of which is searching social media for data about that person, their possessions, their habits and their movements.

Say GrannyIvy posts on GM every day. A would-be scammer could already have pieced together a lot about her life. Today she writes: Good Morning from a chilly Macclesfield. This morning, we’re going to Barclays to collect our Euros, then to M&S to buy me a new swimsuit. We’re taking the dog to the kennels this afternoon then we’re off tomorrow on the 10:00 am flight from Manchester to Alicante for two weeks in sunny Javea.

Good chance then that the house is going to be empty else the dog wouldn’t have to go to the kennels.

Say the GN members database has already been hacked and the hackers now have everybody’s email address. They search the dark web and find an entry which links [email protected] to an address Remote Cottage, Quiet Lane, Macclesfield and a phone number. Bingo.

They sell the data to a criminal network who now know the house is going to be empty for two weeks. And/or it’s sold to scammers who will call Ivy when she gets back. Hello, this is Barclays Bank. We’re calling about an irregular transaction on your account relating to M&S.

There was a recent thread about Suckers Lists. If you don’t believe that a forum populated mostly by elderly women posting daily about their lifestyle and activities could be a target for criminal networks, that’s up to you. I’m just saying that it’s possible and that people should be careful about what they divulge on a public forum including how much cash they carry or keep in the house. Thieves aren’t necessarily looking for large amounts. Some just want enough cash to pay their drug dealer. And if they now know where GrannyIvy lives and that she always carries £200 in her purse, she’s making herself a sitting target to be mugged as she walks to the bus stop.

I was once on holiday in Scotland and noticed a Facebook post by an old friend suggesting she was nearby on holiday. I contacted her to suggest we met up as I hadn't seen her for a number of years, but she was already home hundreds of miles away. She and her husband had obviously followed the advice not to post your holiday snaps etc while still away! I generally follow that advice myself so was pleased my old friend was doing the same.

I think Facebook is probably the more likely medium that would-be burglars might look at.

Allira

Doodledog

I was asking about emergency money, and more than once tried to stop the move towards people over sharing. I’m not sure that details about Gladys in Macclesfield will be all over the Dark Web though. That does seem like scaremongering.

Oh, thank goodness for that Doodledog

Gladys Jones
23 Railway Cuttings
Macclesfield

You can't be Gladys Jones, as I happen to know that she is on her holidays for the next fortnight. I go in on Monday afternoons to water the plants, but she is definitely not there the rest of the time, as the place is empty.

Doodledog

Allira

Doodledog

I was asking about emergency money, and more than once tried to stop the move towards people over sharing. I’m not sure that details about Gladys in Macclesfield will be all over the Dark Web though. That does seem like scaremongering.

Oh, thank goodness for that Doodledog

Gladys Jones
23 Railway Cuttings
Macclesfield

You can't be Gladys Jones, as I happen to know that she is on her holidays for the next fortnight. I go in on Monday afternoons to water the plants, but she is definitely not there the rest of the time, as the place is empty.

We may meet when I fetch her dog for walking.

I'm so excited DD.

Doodledog

Allira

Doodledog

I was asking about emergency money, and more than once tried to stop the move towards people over sharing. I’m not sure that details about Gladys in Macclesfield will be all over the Dark Web though. That does seem like scaremongering.

Oh, thank goodness for that Doodledog

Gladys Jones
23 Railway Cuttings
Macclesfield

You can't be Gladys Jones, as I happen to know that she is on her holidays for the next fortnight. I go in on Monday afternoons to water the plants, but she is definitely not there the rest of the time, as the place is empty.

That's me, but I took all my money (£20) and credit cards with me and the family silver is in the bank vault.

Did you put the key back under the mat last time? I had to use the back door, and it's hard to reach the back door key as it's on the roof of the shed.

I put it in our secret place, under the plant pot with the tulips in it. Don't tell anyone.

I only keep £100;in my home and I use it to pay for taxis or if I just have a cuppa and tea cake after my move it or lose it class as it's only £2.70. rest of the time I use my credit card and do a lot of online shopping.

I just found a tenner tucked into my mobile phone case 😃
Happy day!

I do think some people worry overly much.

I always carry an emergency tenner in my phone cover for a walking coffee when taking DD2’s dog out.

Two or three of our neighbours have had their homes broken into but years apart. One was targeted because they'd broken into her previous home and knew they had a lot of precious antiques. The other, I think was opportunist and the burglars scooped up jewellery, as they did another neighbour behind us.
Insurance can cover the loss but if it's of sentimental value, it's upsetting.

kittylester

I do think some people worry overly much.

With regard to which aspect?

Fwiw, when I am feeling ill[or older], I find myself worrying more.
Something to do with lack of strength? In some regard?

I don't know what the actual figures are, but I only know one person who has been burgled so the chances of any of us being broken into seem fairly remote.

kittylester

I don't know what the actual figures are, but I only know one person who has been burgled so the chances of any of us being broken into seem fairly remote.

I agree.

Can't think of any burglaries, we're rural, not much value.

We always lock up, we garage cars, we're careful.

I think you are right kittylester. Everything we do carries risk, and whilst we are aware of the possibility that things may go wrong, it shouldn’t stop us from living our lives. The chance of Gransnet being hacked, email addresses being found and then tracked to peoples addresses, and homes being targeted because people have said online that they keep a little money in the house, is one of the least likely things that could go wrong in our lives - it could happen, but it’s more likely we will trip over in the garden for example, and we aren’t going to stop going outside just in case.

People are chosing to be sarcastic about what I wrote of the dangers of repeatedly divulging personal information about themselves on an open forum on the world wide web.

I spent decades working in forensic investigation including building profiles from people’s social media posts. I would hazard a guess that my profession knowledge and experience in these matters exceeds yours.

Of course, what I said is predicated on the notion that the Gransnet servers could be hacked revealing both members’ email and IP addresses both of which can then be linked to other data held about a person on the dark web including their personal address.

For investigators, that information is obtained with a court order. For criminal networks it is obtained through cyber crime. One of the most common reasons for a cyber attack is to obtain personal data and sell it on using the dark web.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking all criminal networks are multi-billion businesses dealing in drugs and trafficking. There are also networks of disaffected young hackers sitting in their bedrooms talking to others about what mischief they can cause.

Gransnet is a small, leaky forum trawled constantly by bots searching for keywords in posts usually to post spam. How do you think that is possible? Mumsnet was recently subject to a cyber attack where photos of child abuse were circulated. Did you think that was done by an organisation with benign intent? Does it give you confidence that this outdated forum is secure?

Larger companies and organisations which put a lot more more resources into IT security are subject to cyber attacks. Someone posted here yesterday that they had received a personal message from someone who knew their surname. How did that happen?

You can chose to make fun of someone who is warning other elderly people to be careful about what they reveal about themselves and their daily habits to the world wide web. Others might chose to take my advice and be more careful about what they write.

For the record, my own personal data was stolen and used to commit multiple cases of insurance fraud. I wasn’t the victim in the sense that I didn’t lose money, other people did, but it was stressful while it was going on including having enforcement agents trying to force their way into my home to search for people involved in the fraud. I’m pretty resilient but how would you have coped with that?

How had my personal data been obtained? Because I was once a member of another discussion forum where the membership database had been hacked and details posted on the dark web. Why had I been chosen? The police said the fraud was being perpetuated on people with a particular nationality and my name was assumed to be from the same country.

So if you think it can’t happen, you are wrong.

Also for the record, I did not say that people would be targeted only for having cash in the house. I said they could be targeted because they reveal on a daily basis when they are away from home, plus other data about where they bank and where they shop and what their vulnerabilities are. All of this is valuable information for a would-be burglar or financial scam. The chances may be slim but surely one elderly victim is one too many. I am just urging people to be careful but for some reason that’s an excuse to poke fun or bury heads in the sand.

Silverbrooks

Sorry, don't mean to be facetious. I do think Facebook (and probably more modern forums) are more likely to be targeted as people put their real names, family photos, holidays etc on there.

It would be easier than tracking someone on Gransnet, I think.