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11/02/2026

A gift to scammers: why you should probably keep your birthday a secret

The Guardian

You get a call from your bank saying there has been suspicious activity on your account. They read out your name, address and date of birth so you are happy it is a legitimate caller.

But you are talking to criminals who have used your date of birth as part of a web of verifying information to convince you they are someone else.

People’s DOBs are often held in online accounts after being entered as part of a sign-up process for a retailer, loyalty scheme, newsletter or online competition. In a recent hack of the online retailer Asos customers’ dates of birth were among the details taken by scammers.

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