Birth date & social security number required for purchase?

I posted in another thread about this but after thinking about it thought the question was important enough to have it's own thread.
I have an M17 due to arrive this week. On March 12 I called Alienware to add a ten dollar remote control upgrade option to the TV Tuner. The girl takes my credit card information then asks for my birth date and social security number. She said I could not place the order without that information. I told her I was not about to give her that information and to forget about the upgrade and leave the order as it is. I would like to know if asking for social security numbers and birth dates is business as usual when someone wants to make a purchase with their credit card at Alienware. I posed my question to Billing and apparently did not use the correct format because they did not give an answer within their response. I have since rewritten Alienware Billing and Feedback and am awaiting responses. I started thinking that in this day and age, everyone should know to be vigilant and aggressive in protecting their identities. This is why I posted this in it's own thread. Does anyone here know if it is common practice for Alienware to ask for birth dates and social security numbers for upgrade purchases using a credit card? If it is normal for Alienware, then everyone reading this will know. If it is not normal then everyone can be on alert.

 

I could understand birth date and last four for security purposes, my bank always asks that when I call them.

 

It is not normal to give your SSN when ordering from Alienware, glad you didn't do it

 

Absolutely NOT is it usual practice!! Smart move - you just avoided giving up your life. There is absolutely no reason for any commercial business entity to request or even know your SSN, ever, unless they plan to employ you or pay you a large settlement check for attempted fraud. Birthdate requests happen occasionally, but not for a phone purchase or order change.

I build sites that are E-commerce capable. The only thing they should request from you is the order information, your card number, and your CVN code on the back of your card. Anything else is none of their business. As a result of recent changes in State, Federal laws and Card Service regulations concerning online commerce, most information concerning PII (Personal Identity Information) has become strictly regulated as to how it must be handled, both online, in an office as far as records go, etc. In the past it was usual practice to maintain billing information for buyers, but not anymore. The penalties now aren't worth the risk of being hacked or having the information stolen from an office file cabinet or server. Even employee access to PII is also strictly controlled.

One way to determine whether or not something is a valid request is to consider what information that you've already given them so far. Think about it - when was the last time you entered your SSN, BD and Credit Card information when buying something online, unless you were at a Phishing Scam link? The only information we normally give at an E-Commerce portal is our name, address, billing and shipping information, period. No birthdates, no SSN's. To think that someone even tried to get you to voluntarily give that information up is unbelievable.

To hell with Alienware Billing and Feedback - you need to call their Legal department and let them know one of their employees tried to steal your ID. If you actually talked to a valid Alienware employee, there's a good chance they've got someone using their position to run an ID theft scam under their nose.

Consider yourself lucky - you have no idea what's required if your ID is stolen. The number of agencies, banks and other people you need to contact will make you sick.

 

i didnt have to

 

call me crazy, but for working in the field i do and for working in government for many years as well, i have had my number viewed, used, shared, transfered, copied, asked for, given, posted, filed, classified, uncalssified, and an untold other reasons...all based on need to know...lol
while i agree the practice of asking should not have been done, you would be amazed at how one can get your information even without you telling them...not to mention other "public" information that is accessable by "companies" which may and/or may not already contain your SSN.
i have used my number so much now, i dont even blink anymore...i have watches in my credit, a hotline to my bank, and other inplace self policies as a just in case.

but let us know.

 

credit card and the Phone number Name and the 3 digit number on the back of the card I can understand. But the SSI do not give it to them.

best not to be scammed.

 

It happened to me too. They asked me my SS # and I told them I would not give them that information. Once they have your SS #, watch out !! God Bless

 

I don't see how someone is able to do something bad when they know your social security number?

 

With your SSI number and Name they can get credit cards from it. Then make your credit report really bad. Buying crap and so on. Then who left with the bill. Um you are.

 

I'll try to get in touch with them.

 

I received a response telling me that credit card info is needed to make a modification to an order. Alienware contracted with VERID ID for identity authentication service and that company uses a Social Security Number and date of birth to verify the ID.
That's a shame because now I don't have the upgrade and they don't have the money.

 

Hello DaniaFlAlien,

The only reason why an Alienware representative would require your SSN and date of birth is to run VERID ID which is, as you stated before, an Identity Authentication Service provided by RSA.

We normally require to run VERID ID in cases where the caller wishes to make a purchase and have the item shipped to an address we do not have on file. Using VERID ID ensures that you as a customer are protected from ID theft, and to make sure that someone that may have stolen your personal information is not calling to place fraudulent orders.

As long as your shipping address is still the same one that we originally had on file, there should be no reason to ask for your SSN or date of birth.

Best regards,

 

roswell kevin says it all

 

Perhaps that is what happened. I wanted to use a card that had a different billing address than the address the laptop is being shipped to. But I wasn't changing the address where the laptop is to be shipped. Perhaps she didn't understand that or perhaps it is business as usual, I certainly didn't catch on to that or I would have offered a different card. Any which way, I feel MUCH more comfortable about the incident and appreciate the response. Thanks