PRIVACY CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE GENEALOGY RESEARCHER
It seems to me people are willingly - even joyfully - in the spirit of trust and sharing - giving over information that anyone can access. This is simply not acceptable in today's world.
I've never posted my research findings on any database and ask that others who receive information from me do not either. Even those databases that suggest you only post the dead can easily be linked to those who are alive. In particular, death certificates revealing cause of death on Find A Grave tm are beyond irksome; no privacy for the dead? Or the family of the dead?
Then there are the prompts: for you to share photos and memories to the world. You really shouldn't...
Sadly, criminals are using all these details to find and target individuals.
Several years ago a neighbor of mine told me his parents had sent their entire life savings to Mexico because a caller told them that their grandson had gone to a wedding there of one of his frat brothers from UCLA and had gotten drunk and in trouble. This was the bribe the officials needed to let him out of jail there, the caller said. Why linger in a rotten jail for years, pay Mexican lawyers, ruin his college career and life? The caller knew the grandson's name, his fraternity, their names, and many other details that can be found on genealogy databases.
Would it be even more convincing if the caller knew what a person died of or what grandma looked like? Claimed to be at an event that you posted about?
Perhaps even more horrendous was the scam that a senior friend of mine - an intelligent woman with an education and years of experience as a teacher - got caught up in. She had sent a significant amount of money to a middle-man/banker/broker in another country, knowing that the country is full of corruption, and did so on a monthly basis for two years. The purpose was in order to get a man out of that country. She had met the man in person. They talked about getting married. They were frequently in contact. I didn't ask why he didn't just travel to the United States on a tourist Visa and get married here or why she thought such a large sum was needed. Sure there were serious questions I had.
However, came the day that she had no more money to send and she called her potential husband and told him so. At that point the plan was for him to travel to Mexico. He was silent on the other end. The middle-man/broker/banker was angry and told her she would not get any money back, having missed a payment. A family member of hers - a business executive yet - believed in this story enough to offer to send the money. However, within a couple days she was getting text messages from two unknown parties - phone numbers from two different states in the U.S. but men with accents from this other country - and one said "Your man is married and his wife has put a contract out to execute you. But if you send me $2000 I will not kill you." This amount was even more than the monthly payment she had been making. These callers had her phone number, they knew her name, they knew she was a teacher.
Of course this had to be connected to the man she thought to marry. She called the local police who told her to block the number and there was nothing they could do about the money sent to another country. Sadly, because this is a love scam, she believed the execution threat was a scam but not the monthly payments. She went back to work in order to continue earning enough.
Unfortunately there are those criminals who target people who believe in love and are kind and generous. These criminals leave you broke, heartbroken, and fearful.
Please - I caution you - be especially careful when the genealogy database prompting you to give up your photos and memories and much else - HAS NO OPTION FOR YOU TO TAKE THOSE THINGS DOWN.
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