{
  "id": 17551602,
  "title": "A gift to scammers: why you should probably keep your birthday a secret",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/01/a-gift-to-scammers-why-you-should-probably-keep-your-birthday-a-secret",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-11-01T07:00:05.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Guardian Business",
    "slug": "guardian-business",
    "url": "https://www.theguardian.com/money/2026/nov/01/do-not-share-date-of-birth-online-scam-fraudsters-advice"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Leaving your date of birth blank or providing a fake one when creating online accounts can help protect you from identity theft. Scammers often obtain personal information, including dates of birth, from various sources such as online retailers, loyalty schemes, newsletters, and competitions. These details can be sold on the dark web and used to create convincing phishing emails or impersonate victims.\n\nCybersecurity experts advise against entering a date of birth on low-risk websites, as it can increase the risk of your personal information being exposed. Instead, it may be better to not enter any optional personal fields altogether or use a separate email address for online shopping to minimize exposure if a breach occurs. Retailers only require payment card details and a delivery address for transactions, and age verification may be necessary for age-restricted items.\n\nWhile providing your real date of birth might be required for certain institutions such as banks, tax offices, and government agencies, it is generally best to keep this information private when dealing with retailers and other businesses.",
  "summary": "Using a fake DOB or leaving the field blank when making an online account can offer protection from identity theft 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…",
  "key_points": [
    "Leaving date of birth blank protects against identity theft",
    "Scammers obtain personal info from retailers and competitions",
    "Avoid entering DOB on low-risk websites for security"
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}