Sweepstakes, Identify Theft and Birthdate

N

nojobnomoney

New member
I took a seminar on preventing identity theft and the presenters talked about personal information I should not give out without a valid reason. They said the scammers and hackers are after my full name, social security number, driver's license number and birthdate. With my name, birthdate and a social security or driver's license number, they just stole my identity. Many sweepstakes are requesting birthdates and if we don't always know if the sweepstakes site is valid or not this may be is dangerous. And we don't know whether the company that is running the sweepstake has adequate security measures in place to protect our birthdates once we do give them that information. Maybe we need to alert these sweepstake companies to stop asking for our birthdates. Or maybe they need to stop their contests altogether because if the birthdates are stolen from them, the companies offering these sweepstakes may be contributing to identity theft.
 
I don't think much damage can be done with your name and birthdate, that information is easily available anyway, and your identity is much more often stolen from your credit/debit card or your mailbox than from online. Obviously, you have to do what you feel is right for you. However, I don't think that very many members of a sweepstakes site are going to start lobbying for no more sweepstakes.
 
I've always been kind of leery about filling in my birthdate. I've thought about lying. Why can't they just ask for the year? I think that would be somewhat safer. Maybe there should be some legislation on this matter.
 
No one can do much with your birth date, and sponsors need it to ensure that you are of age required to enter.

I've been entering sweepstakes online for 13 years now with absolutely no problems. There are many laws and such in place governing the conduct of sweepstakes and what is required to run a sweepstakes for a sponsor to do anything to jeopardize themselves legally.

...and scammers and such are pretty easy to spot. :)

As for asking for just the year, some people are not of the required age until a certain month and day of the minimal year. That's why they have to ask for the complete birthdate.
 
I DO enter my name and birthdate - just NOT my Social Security number or my driver's license. And hackers and scammers are interested in ALL of these. I don't even put my SSN and driver's license number on my Roboform information (or my credit card or bank account, etc.).
 
ktshome said:
I DO enter my name and birthdate - just NOT my Social Security number or my driver's license. And hackers and scammers are interested in ALL of these. I don't even put my SSN and driver's license number on my Roboform information (or my credit card or bank account, etc.).
Click to expand...

No legitimate sponsor will ask for a full social security number or drivers license number just for entering a sweepstakes. However, for affidavits it is many times required to receive a prize due to either complying with laws governing sweepstakes and/or required for reporting to the IRS. :)
 
Concerning birthdates - why can't they just ask if you are over 18 or 21, whatever the case may be. There are lots of contests out there that do just that. Why can't the rest do so, too?
 
rozzie2008 said:
Concerning birthdates - why can't they just ask if you are over 18 or 21, whatever the case may be. There are lots of contests out there that do just that. Why can't the rest do so, too?
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It's probably just simply their perogative.

"Most sweepstakes will ask their entrants to fill out their age and/or birth date on their entry forms. There are several reasons for this: First, this information is very helpful to the sponsors for designing future marketing; secondly, most sweepstakes have age restrictions, so this helps ensure that the entrants are really eligible; and, third, there are special laws that govern collecting personal information from minors; the sponsors have to know the age of their entrants to be sure these laws are followed. Again, your age and birth date are a matter of public record, and you don't need to worry about providing them on sweepstakes entry forms."

Reference and other questions regarding sweepstakes:

http://contests.about.com/od/conttestscams/tp/entryforminformation.htm
 
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