Community Roll Call

Cordless / Cell Phone Safety


Many of us use cordless and / or cell phones in our daily activities. What we don’t think about is the fact that those types of phones are actually mini radio transmitters. This means that everything you say is transmitted over the air and can possibly be intercepted by people who have receiving or listening devices. Although certain FCC rules prohibit monitoring of conversations that take place with these types of phones, anyone with some basic electronic knowledge can build such a device.

With this in mind you are asked to be very cautious about what type of information you are sharing over cordless and cell phones. Never give any information that you would consider confidential or that may relate to your personal identity. If you do need to relay this type of information over the phone please switch to a good old fashioned hard wired telephone to cut down on the chances of that information being intercepted.

Information considered confidential or related to your personal identity includes:

• Social Security Number
• Drivers License Number
• Date of Birth
• Bank Account Numbers
• Credit Card Numbers
• Banking and Credit Card Passwords or PIN’s
• Medicare / Medicaid Identification Numbers

Also, keep in mind that this information should only be shared with well known and trusted individuals. Never share it with telemarketers and be very leery of people posing as your bank or other service providers.