Some failures in communications
Never, ever give your Social Security number to someone you don’t know.
Except that’s what the Consumer Watch column inadvertently directed folks to do in the July 22 article on curbing junk mail.
Several readers sent frantic messages about a government-mandated help line, mentioned in the column, that was supposed to get people removed from mailing lists for “preapproved” credit card and insurance offers.
But the call-in number leads to a rather spooky electronic service that asks for a Social Security number and birth date -- the very sort of information everyone has been warned not to give strangers in this era of identity theft.
The other hot topic in reaction to the column: junk faxes. Readers are clamoring for a way to stop them.
Well, there’s good news on the “preapproved” front. Although it’s not apparent, there are a couple of ways you can complete the process without giving your Social Security number.
As for the incredibly bothersome faxes, the news is not as promising, but steps can be taken.
First, a look at the mail solicitations. If you’ve been getting a lot of these types of offers saying that you have been preapproved or pre-qualified for credit cards or insurance policies, you could take it as a compliment. It probably means you’re on credit agencies’ firm-offer lists because you have a relatively good credit history.
The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act requires the agencies to have a way for a consumer to get off the lists. That’s where the call-in service comes in.
The phone number set up by the agencies for this purpose -- (888) 567-8688 -- leads to a recorded message that quickly establishes ground rules.
“A live agent is not available through this number,” the cheerful, female voice says.
Then comes the spooky part. You’re asked to give your home telephone number and after a brief pause a computer voice reads back your name and address for verification purposes. You get the feeling that the little voice knows all about you.
Then it asks for your Social Security number.
“I ended the call,” said David Peevers, a Los Angeles writer. He didn’t like the idea of giving the information to a “robot.”
The phone service is legit, privacy advocates say, though hardly sensitive to worries about personal information.
“We’ve done a great job of terrifying people about giving out the Social Security numbers,” said Pam Dixon, executive director of the World Privacy Forum. “Then they get this electronic droid asking them to do just that.”
Experian, one of the credit reporting firms that sponsors the phone service, acknowledged that it had gotten complaints. But spokesman Rod Griffin said that obtaining a Social Security number was key to verifying a person’s identification.
“We have about 220 million credit histories,” he said. “It helps make sure we get a match to the right one.”
But it’s not mandatory that you give the number.
Here’s a simple way to get around it: Shut up.
Although the electronic voice does not tell you beforehand, if you stay silent instead of giving your number, the system will ask for it again. Stay silent a second time and it will give up and move on to other questions.
Silence truly is golden.
Alternatively, you can go to the website www.optoutpre screen.com, which is the online version of the phone service.
The online form asks for the Social Security number as well as other information, but the only boxes marked “required” are for a first and last name.
Now, on to junk faxes. The Federal Communications Commission has had rules on the books against unsolicited faxes since 1992.
But the current law -- which requires the sender of a fax to have an “established business relationship” with a recipient -- is disregarded about as often as the speed limit on the Santa Monica Freeway.
Over a recent weekend, just one of the fax machines in The Times’ Business department received seven unsolicited faxes offering vacations, stock tips, mortgages, a vending machine service and discount prescription drugs “without a prescription.”
Retired aeronautical engineer Arvel Witte of Rolling Hills wrote that he had received not only faxes for life insurance and shirts but also one that offered the chance to get into fax advertising himself.
Sometimes, the faxes go beyond annoying.
“We heard from a person who got a fax saying he had won a $1.5-million prize in a lottery,” said Beth Givens, director of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse in San Diego. “He was told to send, as proof of identity, a copy of his passport.
“It was an identity theft scam.”
Even if not a scam, unsolicited faxes cost the recipient. Barbara Neuberg of Los Angeles noted that the junk faxes “use up my toner and paper needlessly.”
Putting a fax telephone number on the national Do Not Call Registry doesn’t help. The registry bans unsolicited voice calls but has no effect on faxes.
Sales faxes, even if from a company known to the recipient, are supposed to include a phone number or e-mail address that can be used to cut off future faxes.
But several readers who said they used the stop-faxes notifications reported that the faxes kept on coming.
Probably the only true line of defense is to report illicit faxers to the FCC. (For information on filing a complaint, see www.fcc .gov/cgb/complaints_tcpa.html.)
This year, the FCC has issued 64 citations to companies -- all as the result of consumer complaints -- to warn them that if they continue to send unsolicited faxes, they could be subject to fines.
In addition, 11 companies were tentatively assessed fines ranging from $4,500 to $1.4 million for continuing to send the faxes. But companies can protest the fines, and sometimes, according to an FCC staffer, the offenders simply disappear without paying.
FCC officials declined to be interviewed for this report, but spokesman David Fiske said in a statement that the junk fax problem was “a priority for the FCC as evidenced by the hundreds of complaints that we’ve responded to and citations that we’ve issued.”
Still, it’s obvious the unsolicited faxes have not much been curbed. Or maybe there are just lots of hidden established business relationships.
Which brings up the question, who in the Business department has a vending machine company on the side?
--
(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)
Just the fax
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act and other federal laws generally prohibit unsolicited faxes. Here’s how to spot illegal faxes and the steps you can take to try to stop them.
Fax advertisements are illegal unless the sender has an established business relationship with the recipient.
An unsolicited fax must include information on how to opt out of receiving future faxes from the sender.
Contact information must be included for stopping future faxes. This could be a toll-free number or an e-mail address.
To file a complaint about a junk faxer, send an e-mail to fccinfo@fcc.gov or call (888) 225-5322.
More information: www.fcc.gov/ cgb/consumerfacts/ unwantedfaxes.html
Source: Federal Communications Commission
--
Myth Watch
The myth: On Aug. 27, Mars will come so close to Earth it will look as big as the moon!
The reality: It’s a good thing this message -- being spread by e-mail -- is false. If Mars got close enough to rival the moon in size, according to NASA, it would alter Earth’s orbit and bring on terrible tides. The closest Mars will come to us this year is in December, when it will be about 55 million miles away. It won’t look much different than usual to the unaided eye.
The background: The Snopes website, which tracks urban myths on the Internet, traces this one back to August 2003, when Mars came far closer than usual -- about 35 million miles. Even then, it didn’t look all that much different to casual observers. But the erroneous message began to spread, probably because of a misunderstanding about needing a telescope to see the planet close up. The e-mails popped up again this summer.
Info: www.snopes.com/science/ mars.asp and science.nasa.gov/headlines/ y2005/07jul_marshoax.htm
-- David Colker
david.colker@latimes.com
