Caught myself signing up for a loyalty card with my phone number without thinking twice

Was at the grocery checkout last Tuesday and the cashier asked for my phone number for their rewards program. I started rattling it off when this guy behind me just goes "you know they sell that data right?" and it hit me like a ton of bricks. I have a whole burner email for spam and I still hand over my real number for 50 cents off bananas. Now I'm wondering where the line is between convenience and just handing over our privacy for pennies. Does anyone else have a moment where you suddenly saw how careless you were being?

2 comments

2 Comments

kim_martin20d ago

Started connecting the dots after my credit union sent me a fraud alert. Someone used my info to open a store card I never signed up for. The only place that had my full details was a grocery loyalty program I used once. Now I use random fake numbers for every store. Even made up a whole name and birthday for one. They get zero real data from me now, just garbage.

the_susan20d ago

Honestly though, is all that hassle worth it? Those loyalty programs give you actual discounts and sometimes free stuff, and you're just feeding them fake data now. You're probably missing out on deals that would save you way more than any risk of fraud is costing you.