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Comment by jackhack | Hacker News Reader

Phone number hijacking is a real problem, especially with cell phones, and thieves use it as part of an overall identity (and retirement fund) theft approach.

For those who didn't catch it, that's a somewhat "famous" phone number.

In the 80s, there was a song by that name: "867-5309 (Jenny)" by the band Tommy Tutone. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/867-5309/Jenny

Neat tip: you can use your area code + this number in almost any system that asks for a phone number (especially useful supermarket "loyalty" customer tracking systems). If they ask for a name, just tell them "Jenny".

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I was at the mall one day buying something. The cashier said “what’s your cell number?” My reply was “no”. They looked at me shocked and bewildered but the shock was all mine. Who in their right mind asks for a cell number from a shopper? Any time anyone asks me for phone number I just say “no”, seems to work.

I would steer away from being rude to the average cashier, and instead complain to their corporate overlords.

As someone who worked in retail, it was equally uncomfortable for me to ask as it was for the customer to answer.

If it’s uncomfortable to ask then don’t take my response personally. I don’t do it to be rude, just found this to be the most effective way of making a statement without saying much more - which is more likely to make the cashier upset given my resting tone.

Radio Shack used to always want a bunch of information from you for their database, whenever you would buy anything, cash or not. It was good training in refusing to participate in data harvesting that, 30 years after my first nervous "No", is more relevant and necessary than ever.

No isn't rude.

Maybe you shouldn't do things that you know are wrong.

but he has children to feed and mortgage of pay. clearly doing immoral things is the lesser of the two evils in this scenario.

I'm confused. If you ask me a question, answering 'No' seems to be an option... How is it rude to reply that way?

I'm well aware cashiers are people, and want to treat them that way.

---

> Would you like to upgrade to a large?

> Nope.

---

> Can we just get your phone number?

> No...

I think the parent took the literal answer of “no” to be a bit terse, depends on how you read that example conversation. I doubt anyone is arguing it’s actually rude to refuse to provide a phone number, just to not be snarky when doing so.

I've got to agree with this. You're ultimately just being rude to a minimum wage worker who has to follow a script or be fired.

What would be a non-rude approach in you opinion? >can we have your phone number? >Yes. walks away

tThe initial'no' as presented was completely valid, polite response.

I'm not saying you should say yes to be agreeable. Just be polite but firm. I would say something along the lines of "I don't want to give out my phone number sorry." or even just shaking your head back and forth works.

"Do you have a phone number" "No" comes off as you being irritated and will make the staff member feel like a dick for just doing their job.

I'm not saying you must always be polite. If somebody is being a pushy asshole push back. However if you can take a few seconds to make a minimum wage drone not feel as bad about their job its well worth it.

> Neat tip: you can use your area code + this number in almost any system that asks for a phone number (especially useful supermarket "loyalty" customer tracking systems). If they ask for a name, just tell them "Jenny".

Do you actually do this? It hasn't worked for me most places I've tried it. In a couple cases it froze/crashed their system. I always wondered what people who legitimately have this number do.

I've had it work sometimes, but also ran into times where it must've been overused.

Yep, I use it all the time at the area supermarkets (works with no less than four different chains).

I predict that someday soon, supermarkets will sell my food purchase history to insurance companies, so when I buy loads of vegetables and such, I use my real number. When I buy wine & bacon -- you guessed it: 867-5309.

Tip #2: They also link purchase records based on debit card account numbers. So pay cash.

Tip #3: if the number doesn't work for your area code, try it with a different area code. (the sysadmins sometime purge a number that is being used by loads of people.) Also, if you need to provide a zip code, Beverly Hills 90210 works just fine.

> I predict that someday soon, supermarkets will sell my food purchase history to insurance companies, so when I buy loads of vegetables and such, I use my real number. When I buy wine & bacon -- you guessed it: 867-5309.

That won't help, your purchases can still be linked to yourself with your credit card.

With Apple/Google Pay isn't this information NOT shared with merchant, but only a transaction token ?

so they say. but the data lives somewhere, and when it has enough value it will be a commodity.

> That won't help, your purchases can still be linked to yourself with your credit card.

This doesn't seem to add much value on top of

>> Tip #2: They also link purchase records based on debit card account numbers. So pay cash.

I've used it at CVS with area code 213. I usually got a very large printout about all the beauty care products Jenny was using.

Used this at a Food Lion once and the savings to date was like $10k+ or something outrageous, we all had a good laugh.

If a shop or any service business, which has no business of having this information, asks me for phone # or ZIP code I advise them right straight to fuck off.

Since it's not the cashiers fault I make sure not do be hostile or rude to her / him, but I make it very clear that it's none of their business and if they absolutely insist on it I walk away.

Demanding questions are a form of force.

"What do you do?"

"How much do you make?"

"Where do you live?"

"What are you doing?"

Preemptively: "Nothing-to-hide" folks don't live in transparent houses, wear clothes and don't tell their passwords to everyone they meet. Everyone has something to hide or they're dishonest. Information equals opportunities for attack... Publisher's Clearing House and other "contest" identity prostitution scams... no way.

I do this too. I found once I started being okay with saying no it became way less awkward.

This works for companies that ask for email as well.

I always use 312-836-7000, which is the CTA's customer service number. It stuck in my head from years of bus commuting in Chicago. It most recently worked for me as a loyalty card at a Safeway in Mountain View, so I'm apparently not the only one with this number stuck in their head. But not enough people know it for it to be flagged. (Never tried it when I lived in Chicago, interestingly. There it might be more widespread.)

Are there any SIM card providers in the US or Europe that provide strong identification on Phone number porting? Such as requiring a password or physical identification?

In Italy you can block porting altogether. Unblocking requires visiting a store in presence and showing id.

In germany i had to verify my id at a post office. Deutsche Post has a infrastructure for verifying ids that buissnesses can use.

Many do, until an employee decides the number needs to be ported anyway. There is always an "override" feature / method to overcome these measures.

Telecoms are thin margin business and every human check or technical security measure will be rejected until customers start leaving, mentioning a particular issue. Problems with porting, S7 weaknesses, number spoofing and other anoyances is that you will be hard pressed to find an alternative operator that actually protects for these risks simply because they cost money and in the end only few customers are willing to pay the 10% a month extra.

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