Census Posers? In our Homes? FReeper feedback requested.

self | August 18, 2022 | fwdude

[fwdude]

A little background. My elderly singe mother lives locally, in her own home alone, with daily check-ins by relatives, household employees and friendly neighbors whom she compensates for help with her care.

A few years ago, she was contacted by someone who identified themselves as a Census worker. She was requesting financial information a little more detailed than the decennial census would require. Mom says that the lady paid her a personal visit to help her fill out the form. My mom is very kind and tender-hearted, which makes her a little blind to scams and quite naïve about many things. So, she accommodated this lady, who mom described as "very nice," and even showed her some of her financial documents. That was alarming enough, but mom said that she made a follow-up visit to go over her information.

I didn't think much about this until recently, but now I'm freaking out. I keep a pretty close watch over her accounts and finances and haven't noticed anything suspicious, but I'm beginning to think that her secure identity been compromised.

What is the best course of action to take at this point?

[Flick Lives]

A credit freeze, which can be done for free, is an excellent idea. It prevents someone from impersonating your mom and attempting to get credit. If your mom then actually needed credit, you can temporarily unfreeze the accounts for a credit check.

[JimRed]

I got my The American Community Survey in the mail. It was very intrusive and a pain in the butt. They basically wanted my Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) for a 1 year period, not a calendar year but from 31 Jul 2021 to 1 Aug 2022. It was a pain in the butt, because I had to add up my interest, dividends, retirement salary without the aid of a 1099-DIV, 1099-INT or 1099-RET.

The answers to that are "None of your business" or "Get a warrant"!

[Manuel OKelley]

They tried this with me back around 2000 and I politely told them what they could do with themselves and never heard another word about it

[alexander_busek]

Third question should be:

Did you get your fourth booster shot within the last six weeks? 'Cause I ain't lettin' anyone in my house who isn't following Dr. Fauci's guidelines!

Regards,

[kiryandil]

I wish I had been involved. More than likely I would have told the woman to get lost.

A friend of mine, who is a staunch union Democrat who believes he has "rights", got an ACS survey form.

He knows that I worked Census, so he called me for advice [he did NOT like the detailed financial information requested].

He wanted to just tell them that he wasn't giving them the information, and to get lost, standing on his "rights".

I told him that his only hope was to not engage them at all.

Don't answer the door, don't answer their phone calls, if they tackle you in the yard, tell them you don't live there and are just looking after the place for a friend. Lie convincingly.

He didn't want to do that.

"Once you engage them, you are lost."

He still thought he had the "right" to tell them to get lost.

      

[HartleyMBaldwin]

I got an ACS once, back in the 90s sometime. I threw it out and never heard anything more about it.

[fwdude]

Our police department here is worthless, probably not by the fault of individual officers, but because of the top brass and the leftist government which directs them.

Even in my relatively conservative large Texas city, the “defund” movement has made inroads. Our police chief bowed before BLM madness two years ago. The officers are spread thin and have to cut corners. I’ve made calls for service and waited hours, or was never contacted at all. A lawn maintenance acquaintance of mine was robbed at a convenience store gas pump by three “Amish” thugs who hit him over the head and stole money and a GUN, and police never responded to his call - at all.

We are living in the beginnings of anarchy.

[JimRed]

Don't answer the door, don't answer their phone calls, if they tackle you in the yard, tell them you don't live there and are just looking after the place for a friend. Lie convincingly.

He didn't want to do that.

A Democrat who didn't want to LIE? Amazing!

[kiryandil]

Old school union Democrat.

[JimRed]

Old school union Democrat.

My oldest son is a young fool union Democrat. NYC carpenter. Prospered during Trump, laid off a lot now.

[Carriage Hill]

Experian and ... I forget the other one. Drat.

[cgbg]

When I worked for the Census Bureau decades ago we were given specific instructions for the ACS survey.

The “visit” list was only people who had not responded to the mailed survey.

Probably 90%+ were friendly and cooperative.

Another 5% refused to cooperate.

Another 5% tried to avoid us in various ways.

The way we handled the last two groups was that we contacted neighbors and asked them basic questions that neighbors would be likely to know (not about income, though).

So—if you don’t want to answer the questions you can refuse and the census taker should be ok with that. If they give you a hard time just ask for the phone number of their supervisor and tell them you plan to complain about harassment.

[kiryandil]

Another 5% tried to avoid us in various ways.

My bosses always told stories about "the quivering curtain".    

[mass55th]

Nobody ever gets into my apartment unless I know them personally. I had one of those "census" workers knocking at my door back in 2011. I had filled out their stupid short form, answering only the questions I felt they needed to know, and sent it in. When she showed up the first time, I slammed the door in her face. My sister was in hospice care that summer, in another city, and I was gone most of the time, so if she came again while I was gone, there was no one here. The last time she showed up, she happened to catch me on the stairs in my apartment building, the day I returned home after my sister had died. I wasn't very pleasant to her, and sent her packing. She never came back. They can knock on my door all they want. They won't get in, and they won't get any answers to their stupid questions either. When someone I don't know knocks on my door, I don't even give them the chance to finish their spiel, I say "I'm not interested" as I'm closing the door in their face.

I worked in uniform for NY State Corrections for 25 years. I know how to be rude.

[Brooklyn Attitude]

“My sister told my mom I was dead and made mom sign a new one and cleaned her out before putting her in a home.”

Holy Carp what a B*tch! Another good reason for kids to keep in frequent touch with their parents.

[goodnesswins]

We got one of those...told them number in household and msybe our race as “American”...

[cyclotic]

We got the community survey a while back. I think. I can’t remember what I did with it. Yea, must have filled it out. I guess

[Osage Orange]

Agreed!!