When registering a domain name, should I pay - annually - to hide these details from the Whois database?

Kirn — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 05:16:22 -0800

When registering a domain name, should I pay - annually - to hide these details from the Whois database? I'm in the process of registering 2 domain names (with fasthosts.co.uk/ukreg) and have been presented with the following option:

Hide your contact details for this domain
£4.99 pa per domain
Activate domain privacy to stop these contact details being displayed in the publically-accessible WhoIs database.

£10/year isn't a massive amount of money, but it isn't nothing. Should I tick this option? Do people, generally? Do you? What am I getting by doing it, and what am I risking if I don't? Is there a serious risk of identity fraud? (FWIW, the domain names I'm registering would both have my full name in them.)

Thanks!

How do I get this greedy high street bank to act responsibly?

Mutant — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 04:55:38 -0800

UK Credit Card fraud - HELP!! The first week of August I was notified by BigHighStreetBank that someone had been arrested with a large number of false credit cards, including mine, in his possession. Although we established that no fraud had occurred on my account, they insisted that a new card be issued which was received roughly two days later. Prudent behaviour, and no problem, I thought.

The replacement card was unusable from the outset, being turned away be retailers. All of my regular payments against this card were being declined, and I couldn’t use it on the internet.

On September 16th I’d had enough, and considering the card carried a large annual fee (250 pounds) I asked that it be cancelled however a supervisor talked me out of this decision, arranging for a new card to be sent out, and gave me twenty pounds credit.

On September 23rd at roughly 1:30AM I notified call centre staff that a new card sent wc September 18th had not been received.

The operator I spoke with didn’t provide an acceptable solution to this problem (“all we can do is send another”) so then after speaking with her supervisor who could not advance a practical solution either, I asked that my account be closed and a final invoice issued.

I heard nothing from BigHighStreetBank until October 5th when multiple, somewhat frantic calls were received. Due to the fact I was being contacted during business hours I was unable to take this call until 18:07. After going through a very rigorous authentication processes (seven questions!) I was connected with someone from the Fraud Department.

She informed me that an individual had contacted BigHighStreetBank identified themselves as me, asked that the account be reopened and over the next three days had completed several rather large (about 28 thousand pounds) transactions. Due to the fact that I was still at work I could not discuss further. Also I was puzzled as the account, from my point of view, was long closed.

Once home that same evening at 19:58 I spoke with an operator regarding this matter. He acknowledged the account had been closed however reiterated that someone had been able to use this card.

On October 6th I received a letter noting that “my complaint was being looked into”. I had no idea what complaint this letter refers to, or even why it was sent considering I had closed my account with BigHighStreetBank.

On October 10th I sent a very strongly worded letter, recorded delivery, to BigHighStreetBank detailing this situation. Fortunately, I kept very, very careful notes of dates / times / who I spoke with along with their internal identification numbers. I asked what personal details of mine had been used to activate a closed account, and why BigHighStreetBank hadn’t insisted on a written application to reactivate a closed account after two months of complaints and problems.

I also presented the following questions :

1) If this account was indeed closed by myself – as acknowledged by multiple operators at BigHighStreetBank – how could someone call reopen it? Prudence would dictate that a written application be obtained.
2) If a card is reported missing, why was it allowed to be activated?
3) If a card is reported as missing, why would BigHighStreetBank allow it to be used for transactions? Nobody attempted to contact me at any of the telephone numbers on record until such fraud had already been conducted.
4) If a card was reported missing and the account subsequently closed, after a two month period of complaints from the authorised account holder (i.e., multiple calls to detail how the card in my possessions was unusable – details with identification numbers / dates available upon request) how could a simple telephone call serve to A) reopen the account, and B) activate the card? Surely someone must have been suspicious about the abrupt change, considering the relationship was already over at that point.

They never acknowledged nor replied to this letter, although Royal Mail indicates that it was in fact received.

Just last evening I received a statement indicating this account is now some three thousand pounds in credit! It should have debit of approximately seven thousand pounds, but the fraudsters are apparently crediting payments from other institutions through my card.

I called last evening but the people are hopeless, and claim the problem “is being looked into”. I only kept this card as it carried a rather large credit limit, I travel a great deal on business, and sometimes have to get places fast or stay there a while and not have to worry about spending constraints.

Just this AM I visited Metropolitan Police, presented the statement with fraudulent transactions, filed a written report and received an incident number.

In spite of several attempts to close the account, acknowledged by the institution in question, I still do not have a full and final invoice.

To add injury to insult, last Thursday a direct debit was made against my savings which, I'm reasonably sure, was calculated against the fraudulent balance.

So net/net not only is this taking up hours of my personal time, disrupting by business / professional activities (I should be in Amsterdam today but pushed the trip back so I could file a police report), but they are also charging me interest / etc on a balance that isn't mine, via an account that was closed over one month ago.

So what do you folks recommend as next steps?

How to foil an internet impersonator?

MiguelCardoso — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 05:54:55 -0800

Someone is impersonating me on the web. How can I stop him/her? Quite a few people have already been fooled. More annoyingly, the pretentious idiot doing is barely literate. What the hell can I do to dissuade this person from pretending to be me? I should add that most people in Portugal refer to me as "MEC" for short and that I haven't written a word on my old blog for years and I'd like to avoid reviving it just to say this other pseudo-blog is a fraud. Many thanks for any help.

Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with identityfraud

When registering a domain name, should I pay - annually - to hide these details from the Whois database?

How do I get this greedy high street bank to act responsibly?

How to foil an internet impersonator?