peartywerty
Diamond Member
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Many people use a separate 'burner phone' for their punting activities. I've never really bothered as my phone number isn't linked to any social media accounts (e.g. you can search Facebook for a phone number and the member's name sometimes appears) nor is my phone number displayed online anywhere (so it can't be crawled by search engines).
I thought I was protected, but I made one mistake.
Recently I transferred some money for a Gumtree purchase via PayID. The person gave me their PayID and I immediately transferred the money using by banking app. I was surprised to notice that their full name appeared as the recipient. I asked them try to send me a payment via Pay ID and lo and behold my name was displayed.
This means that any sex worker I've contacted could know who I am by simply trying to send me a PayID payment. The payment doesn't even have to go through - you can simply start typing in any phone number and the name appears.
So what can one do about this?
1. Use a second number for punting exclusively. Don't link this number to any 3rd party system
2. Cancel your mobile number as a PayID identifier. PayID also supports an email address so use that instead if you want to make/receive payments
Hope this helps punters out there and also any sex worker too. Your privacy could be breached if the phone number used in your advertising is linked to PayID
I thought I was protected, but I made one mistake.
Recently I transferred some money for a Gumtree purchase via PayID. The person gave me their PayID and I immediately transferred the money using by banking app. I was surprised to notice that their full name appeared as the recipient. I asked them try to send me a payment via Pay ID and lo and behold my name was displayed.
This means that any sex worker I've contacted could know who I am by simply trying to send me a PayID payment. The payment doesn't even have to go through - you can simply start typing in any phone number and the name appears.
So what can one do about this?
1. Use a second number for punting exclusively. Don't link this number to any 3rd party system
2. Cancel your mobile number as a PayID identifier. PayID also supports an email address so use that instead if you want to make/receive payments
Hope this helps punters out there and also any sex worker too. Your privacy could be breached if the phone number used in your advertising is linked to PayID
Last edited:
great information 
