I'm looking for a rear bumper for my 1986 Ford E 150 cargo van. It's a 6 cylinder with a rear step bumper. HPIM1367.JPG

 

I never understand why people block out their license plates...

 

Heres a couple of videos about that and there are other ways to extract private info from a tag number


Also at least California has (I dont know about other states), a form to fill out and it is conceivable a criminal could fill out the form and gain private info..
http://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/wcm/con...df?MOD=AJPERES

Of course anyone that sees your car or truck will see your plate, but putting it on the internet gives millions of people access. If someone got really pissed off at you online and you had posted your plate number, they could get info on you..

Maybe better safe then sorry?

 

You can probably find a new standard bumper but I haven't seen any step bumpers.. perhaps a salvage yard?
Would be interesting to see if there is a way to modify a F150 step bumper..

 

With all that rust, what are you going to bolt it to ? It's gotta be toast underneath.

 

Actually the underneath is very solid, no rust at all. Undercoated it every year since I've had it. The engine and trans only has about 6000 miles on it. The bumper just sort of fell apart. If I cant find a replacement, I'll make one.
You're right Annaleigh - better safe than sorry

 

Sometimes the obvious escapes so many..........

Just as I'd never post online my social security number, banking account info or any other bit of personal information some miscreant could exploit for their nefarious reasons a license plate number can be used in just that same manner. In the 15 years I've been online I've NEVER had even a detectable cyber attack based upon info I've shared or otherwise made basically public knowledge.

How things like this are missed so easily makes me concerned for those not better understanding we live in a big bad world where others WILL take advantage of us.

 

What is so "obvious" and "missed so easily" ?

 

I dealt with ID theft BEFORE I ever used/owned a computer.
That said I don't live in fear of what might happen.
Your info is already in computers that you don't own so if criminals want it, they can get it.

 

I think ID theft is a Sasquatch. I see it on TV all the time but never a hint of it in real life.


Vettex2 is literally my "closest relationship" of an actual claim of ID theft. And I've only know him on this forum for like a year. And after our vast friendship he just now mentioned ID theft.

 

My license plate is 075 1IF in Florida.

And according to Annaleighs videos above: as long as I don't show my phone number nor tell you the city I live in- I'm safe.

 

I have a few close friends who have had their ID lifted, some who had very serious breaches like full-on fake ID used for criminal purposes using their name, or false credit opened in their names which trashed their credit ratings for years. Glad your world is so innocent, IM50, but you still need to be careful. Your city is Lakeland Florida per the info on your post...you don't think I could find you if I looked hard?

I had my own charge card number lifted (interestingly when my bill never came for the prior month...) but the bank was SO on top of it that they called me when there were some "odd" charges that were unlike my normal usage pattern. Killed the charge number immediately and OK since then.

I worked with pension plans for my whole career and we were really casual about things like employee data (including Soc Sec numbers) back in the 1970's, but by 2000 or so, all data was on serious lockdown, encrypted, etc. Hell, the IRS used to mail tax booklets to everyone in the US with SS number displayed on the address label. Not any more.

Cybercrime is real...just like auto accidents. I wear my seat belt even though in about a million miles of driving, I've not had my life saved by a belt. But it could happen tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving to all the van forum folks,
George

 

You do need to be careful online. there is lots of info out there that people can easily find.. You should recognize these partial numbers and missing letters and be able to piece it together.. That took all of 2 or 3 minutes..
4-29.. 80 do. and happy birthday!

So again be careful.. Id theft is a big problem...

 

It happens and it sucks. Still, I'm not going to stop living the digital life.

 

Ok ok hilarious mistake of mine where I mention not telling you my city- I'm usually on the mobile site and i don't see cities, signatures, etc.

Annaleigh I'm curious about what you posted: I can't figure out what you referred to except my birthday this Sunday. And didnt you find that on my FTE profile?