I know that England and the UK in general have very little left in the way of privacy and we are a close second so it would appear.
Here in the US, as I suspect it likely is elsewhere, if one owns a car / motorized vehicle, house, property, firearm, votes in elections, married, criminal action, court cases, divorce, birth / death or any other action that automatically becomes "Public Record", then one is certainly liable to have said information collected and turned against that person.
My elderly parents were recently Scammed! They were told their grandson was in an accident along with a friend and that the police found drugs in his friends car at the scene. Money would be needed to bail their grandson out of jail pending a bond hearing before trial. $2,000.00 is not something that elderly people have lying around.
They almost fell for it but called me first. I checked and my son (their grandson) was actually home working in the garage and NOT in another state nor in jail!
The callers even knew his name and approximate age.
Scary but all this information is true and available on the web for those willing to do a little digging!
Just type your full name into Google then read through the results.
I guess some of these are the same people who feel it necessary to constantly update their Facebook and Twitter status every 5 minutes for fear they may miss something! If they only knew. "Oh yeah, our whole family is going on vacation at blah...blah for two weeks...and yada...yada...."
The bad guys are thinking really? Now where did they live? Vacant house? Goodies? Oh yeah!!
Think before posting and since you can't protect your public information, be cautious and wary about offers and phone calls. Lastly...NEVER pay or send money in order to receive a prize / winning!!
This has been a publc service announcement...
What's in Your wallet?