A missing package

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: EEkid () aol com
Date: November 7, 2005 8:47:52 PM EST
To: dave () farber net
Subject: A missing package


Mr. Farber,

About a week ago I purchased a few items online and while the package  
was in transit, I eagerly awaited the arrive of the package while  
tracking it's trip to my home.  The package was supposed to be  
delivered on Thursday November 3rd.  The package didn't arrive as  
expected.  Thinking there was simply a delay and being too busy to  
check the tracking info, I waited another day.  Friday afternoon I  
checked the Fed Ex tracking and was disturbed to see that it had been  
left on my door step the previous day.  But, it hadn't been.  My wife  
was home from work and no delivery was made.  I called the company  
immediately to inform them of the problem.  They promised to resolve  
the issue promptly.

Sunday night, I received voicemail message from a woman.  The message  
went something like this.  'Hi my name is Tracy you must be my  
neighbor, a package meant for you was delivered to my home by  
mistake, you can come by to pick it up.'  She left no return phone  
number or address.  I looked at my caller ID and it recorded her  
phone number and name.  I called it but there was no answer.  While I  
was on the phone, I pointed my laptop to an internet reverse  
telephone lookup site.  No luck, there was no listing for her phone  
number.  I had an idea, since I knew what street she lived on (same  
as me), I searched the Maryland Department of Taxation website.   
There I found her name, her husbands name, address, the size and type  
of her home, the size of her property and how much she paid for it.   
I then punched in the address into Google maps and it pointed to her  
address on the street.  Of course Google maps always seems to point  
to the house next door, but I knew the immediate vicinity.  A short  
while later, she called again and this time gave me directions to her  
home.

As I stood on her doorstep and received my package, I realized just  
how easy it was to quickly unravel her personal information.  I  
didn't reveal to her that I knew her name, address and value of her  
home before she called back.  I must admit I was a bit embarrassed  
that I had done so.

I can remember playing with my first computer years ago, it was a  
Commodore 64 with  2400 baud modem, I never dreamed such things would  
be possible.  Yet, what's ahead?


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