WARNING !! Watch your GR Tree

[custard_pot]

I had a very spooky contact on Genes this week. He asked me to send him a personal email which I did. He sent me an attachment which was my family in a word document which he had done.

The information which he had was very in depth a lot which is not even in my tree. I asked where he had got it and he said he only lived a short distance from Warwick records office and he used IGI, Ancestry and 1837, but some of the information he could not get from there. Like my daughters adoptive name.

It really spooked me especially seeing he is not a direct relative, he is related to my GT Grandmother's first Husband.

I have since changed my tree so that living relatives are not shown and I would advise everyone else to do the same.

It still does not answer where he got his information from though.

Christine

[downside]

Hi custard_pot

Everyone alive is recorded somewhere or other and complete strangers know who you are and where you live.  Some of them also know how much you earn and what you spend your money on.

You spend much of your time finding out who your ancestors were and where they lived and all their other secrets.

If you are still paranoid about how he discovered your secret then I suggest you contact him again and ask him in discrete way how he managed to find out about that particular fact.  It's probably out there in the public domain somewhere.

downside

[Bitza 5]

I'm very cautious on GR when i reply to hot match's i don't automatically let people see my tree but ask them a question. when i get a good enough reply and think we may have a connection only then do i allow them to see my tree. it takes longer but it saves people finding out things about you that you dont want them to know. i sopose it is easier for people to find out alot about  you if you and your family have lived in the same area for a large amount of years.

its a shame we have to be cautious but its the best way.

             Bitz

[kerryb]

Bitz

I second that emotion!! 

That is exactly how I go on now, ask some questions and gain a conversation before I give up my tree so that I know there is a genuine reason for wanting to see it.

Kerry

[Thudnut]

Good advice on hiding living relatives.  I've just changed my tree to do this.

Thanks for the advice.
Thudders

[Berlin-Bob]

Good advice on hiding living relatives.

I'll second that, and not just on GR.

If anybody reading this has a website, the same thing applies, so just in case you didn't hear this the first time:

Don't put any information about living relatives on any website !

Bob


ps.
It's not only dangerous, but you also have to ask everybody on that tree to give you their permission to publish in a public place.

[downside]

Hi Bob

What do you mean by dangerous?

It's not like you are giving out your bank details and passwords and home address.

I think custard_pot was actually supplied with information by a contact rather than the other way around.  If she had thanked the contact for the information and probed his sources a bit more then she might find out where he obtained the information.  I suspect it was from the local G.R.O. index and adoption registers. 

Maybe the G.R.O. index should be banned because it contains details about living people and telephone directories and electoral rolls. 

Anonymous rootschat person.

[Rustidge]

I agree that it is necessary to hide living relatives on your Genes Reunited tree. I also don't include children. Before I realized this one chap had copied all my living relatives onto his tree. I still get cross every time his name comes up at the top of my hot matches list. There are certain individuals who have hundreds of names on their trees and must get them this way. It is often very hard to find the family connection. When I have got hot matches I message person but make sure I don't let them see my tree until I am happy. In fact it is easy to add a name which is not genuine and then get contact with persons with that surname. This could be used to find people. I notice now Births deaths and marriages are available up to 2004 on 1837 on line and one could trace former boyfriend etc and find if they ever married or had children. Also B D and M certificates can be bought for £7 each. This could be used for identity theft. Worrying isn't it.

[downside]

Hi Rustidge

B D and M certificates can be bought for £7 each

especially by people researching their family trees.

This could be used for identity theft. Worrying isn't it.

How do think you get junk mail form companies that you have never heard of?

How do these junk mail compaines know where you live?

Local councils sell the information to junk mail companies.

There is no escape.  Many strangers know who you are and where you live.  They are probably watching you right now. 

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