In a test undertaken at Victoria station, researchers working for Info Security Europegot more then 80% of commuters to reveal key personal details, from their date of birth to their mothers maiden name, just for the chance to win an easter egg. Such carelessness is believed to be part of the reason so much identity theft takes place.
when i read this article published (believe it or not) in the guild of cleaners and launderers christmas newsletter i had 1 thought.....
people are really f*!king stupid.

Considering how pretty much everything in New Zealand requires a membership number, account number or password that can only be obtained via mailouts before you can claim to be somebody we don't suffer too much identity theft. I've found most corporations I deal with are rather prim and secure when it comes to keeping our personal details on file and requiring information that the person would never give out to anybody else (such as your Vodafone membership number - that won't be your telephone number).

i find that anything done over the phone typically requires membership/card numbers

i think the problem mostly relates to online banking for example, egg card log-in asks for:

first name
surname
date of birth
post code

mothers maiden name
password

if i had given all of the above, they now just need the password, it makes it alot easier to hack my account. also ive seen suspicious surveys before, sometimes they ask for annual earnings, how many cards and of what type do you own etc...
i wonder how well designed the survey in this instance was for information gathering.

I never answer such questions unless it is from a registered company that I've heard of myself, and I feel there is a need to know the answer. If I'm buying something from an online store and they want to know my mother's maiden name I start geting a little suspicious...