Beware! Your personal data is hardly personal

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Many of us receive messages, emails, phone calls or WhatsApp messages like these. Do you know the reason? This is because your personal data is getting breached in many ways.

The sender has access to your personal and financial data which can be used to snoop on you.
A data breach happens when sensitive, confidential or protected data is leaked to an untrusted environment. It puts you under surveillance. Any surveillance is an intrusion on your privacy

A survey conducted by LocalCircles, has revealed 59 per cent of 10,980 respondents with existing loans have been approached with detailed alternative offers in last 5 years. A total of 34 per cent respondents with existing bank account admitted to being given such offers.

Shefali Jain, who runs a coaching centre, said, “I bought an AC last year. Since then, I daily get calls or messages with offers from different numbers. They have made my life miserable. I have started blocking the numbers now.”

Divya Richa, a media professional based in Delhi said, “Even when you stop taking calls from the blocked numbers, they start calling you or messaging from other numbers.” She said she had taken a car loan and now got calls, mails and SMSs offering her to transfer the loan to another company.

Dr Vandana Saxena, environmentalist, said she received two-three such calls or messages every week. “Banks and service providers want all personal and financial details when we go for a loan. They should be held accountable when personal data is compromised,”she said.