Spam Calls in Philly?

Submitted by WhyNotKenGaburo t3_11ua87d in philadelphia

When you buy a house in Philly, does the City of Philadelphia, title company, etc. sell your phone number to telemarketers? The amount of spam calls that I have received for "political research" since I've moved here has been through the roof, and often before or after the time that they can legally call. Or is it that these companies can legally cull personal information from public records in Pennsylvania and use it at will? Or does Pennsylvania just have an unusually large phone scam industry? So many questions... But seriously, it's starting to make me bats.

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Leviathant t1_jcn9m6d wrote

There are definitely companies that have automation around things like the recording of new deeds. The kind of personal information that you could only easily dig up if you worked at a collections agency is now... just on the internet. Google yourself and your phone number, and you'll find a page with all your old addresses and phone numbers, your family, all scraped from public sources or lists that got hacked and shared.

I just like to blame the bank and the real estate agency. "Just initial all these pages and sign this, this, and this." Who's going to look for marketing language in all those documents?

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WhyNotKenGaburo OP t1_jcnhnxo wrote

Yeah, I'm pretty diligent about tying to scrub my personal info from the web as much as I can. Those sites you mention really don't have much on me. I did review all of my sales documents thoroughly, and had the lawyer that oversaw the sale of my apartment in NYC go over them as well (NY is a lawyer state, which I think is good), and there wasn't any clause that stated that my information would be given out left and right. It just seems odd to me that I would go from having 3-5 calls a year in NY to 3-5 calls a day in PA.

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ronreadingpa t1_jcpxu2p wrote

Deeds and liens (ie. mortgage, home equity loan, etc) is public information. There are many companies that monitor public records and pounce soon as they detect a change.

While still very uncommon, there's a slight uptick in people buying property under the name of a corporation, trust, etc. Challenge there is keeping the officers / owners secret. Some states make it easy while others, likely including PA, don't. Regardless, it's a barrier.

Also, the government sells data too, such as the DMV (PennDOT). Doubt the spam calls are due to that. However, ads for insurance, etc could be. It's very difficult to hide one's personal information when so many are seeking to enrich themselves with it. Credit bureaus are another. It's endless.

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zwirjosemito t1_jco09px wrote

The deed to your house is recorded at your local municipal administrative office, and is public record available to all. Once you buy the property, your name goes on the deed, which, again, is public record. As soon as your name goes on there, anyone, including private companies whose sole purpose is to solicit you for business, has access to it AND has your home address (literally on the deed). Your phone number is also, generally speaking, in the public record, and once they have those two things, they’re off to the races.

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rollingstoner215 t1_jcnns6g wrote

You’re now the only type of constituent that matters: a homeowner. Nobody else in the world matters; pollsters want to know what you think.

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Capkirk0923 t1_jcplcr4 wrote

I feel you. The Benevolent Policeman’s Society is obsessed with me apparently.

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tempmike t1_jcpvxng wrote

When we first moved here we were renting but had to title our car and get a state driver's license and definitely got a lot through one or both of those (I suspect its from titling the car because I seem to get the majority of the spam calls as opposed to my wife). Recently we purchased our house and I can't say I really noticed any change in the number of calls except what you'd expect with the election cycles.

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EnergyLantern t1_jcrzjho wrote

I have a Panasonic land line phone and I used up all of the memory for blocking numbers, and we still get spam calls. I don't answer our land line anymore, but the telemarketers keep trying.

If someone calls me on my cell phone and doesn't leave a message, I put them on block. I haven't reached the limit on blocking numbers on my cell phone. I suppose I could change our land line to a voice mailbox or cell phone.

Credit card companies and some companies that deal with you require a phone number, but I assume they are the ones selling my information. I even think the cell phone companies and some cell phone companies are involved as well. I think you need a voice mailbox for those you deal with and a private line for work, friends and family.

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