Had a table tennis table on Gumtree & got a call from a guy <Mod edit> who wanted it. (He’d phoned the wife’s mobile then I rang him back to arrange pick up, which wasn’t at my house). Went to meet him, shook his hand, did the deal, got paid, (perfectly nice chap) went our separate ways. When I got home the Mrs asked about the sale, all the usual crap that women like to know. Then after she’s been on Facebook for a while she says, ‘hey, is this that bloke’ & she showed me a page which was obviously his Facebook page!
I mean joking aside (after I asked the other week if Mrs EGF was having an affair) how the hell did he do that without even knowing our surname, plus she didn’t say what her 1st name was.
I know I’m missing something dead obvious but I don’t know what. & before anyone says it, he’s definately not her type! 😉

Does your wife have her mobile number on her Facebook page?

Errr, just a thought.. Maybe she searched his name and area?

Or are you saying that he sent her a friend request, or commented on one of her posts or something?

your post doesn’t make this clear

It’s easy enough to find someone on Facebook even knowing his or her first name as it will often show “local” results after any same names on your friends list.

Don’t understand the bit about “your” surname. Did you mean “his”?

Errr, just a thought.. Maybe she searched his name and area?

Or are you saying that he sent her a friend request, or commented on one of her posts or something?

your post doesn’t make this clear

She didn’t know his name except it was <mod edit> & she wouldn’t look him up anyway!
On her page it just came up ‘suggested friends’ I’ve had a look with her & there’s no ‘mutual friends’ either. (He’d originally phoned the landline & not her mobile)

We didn’t know his surname & I don’t know how he got ours as it was never mentioned.

Then after she’s been on Facebook for a while she says, ‘hey, is this that bloke’ & she showed me a page which was obviously his Facebook page!
I mean joking aside (after I asked the other week if Mrs EGF was having an affair) how the hell did he do that

What did he do? Sounds to me like your wife found his page, not the other way around.
[Edit, you answered this as I was typing. So he still hasn’t done anything. It’s just FB being ‘helpful’]
He’s probably just saved your mobile numbers in his phone and the Facebook app is using that for the “people you may know” list. It knows that your number is on his phone so it tells you (and your wife, if he’s got her number too) that you may know him and it tells him that he may know the two of you.

I’ve had a similar thing after swapping numbers with a couple of colleagues. I keep work completely seperate from FB but it suggests the two or three people who’ve got my number as possible friends.

It’s potentially unsettling from a ‘data harvesting’ point of view, but Muz isn’t after your wife!

He might have searched for you…because he heard you were a bit dodgy…which is understandable enough. 🙂

He’s probably just saved your mobile numbers in his phone and the Facebook app is using that for the “people you may know” list. It knows that your number is on his phone so it tells you (and your wife, if he’s got her number too) that you may know him and it tells him that he may know the two of you.

Ahh I see, that probly explains it as she had to text him later with the postcode.

Ta for that!

With smartphones, t’internet and apps combined the ability to collect, process and use data is far greater than I think any of us realise – I mean, who actually reads the T&Cs or even pays attention to the info the app says it will need access to when we first install it?

I suspect very few of us have any understanding of how much of our data is being collected and used – mainly for commercial purposes rather than anything sinister. Interesting though that more and more people are downloading adblockers now – retargeting (those ads that follow your around the internet) are leaving people creeped out and more and more aware of just how much of our data is being collected and then used for something or other

With smartphones, t’internet and apps combined the ability to collect, process and use data is far greater than I think any of us realise – I mean, who actually reads the T&Cs or even pays attention to the info the app says it will need access to when we first install it?

That’s the funny thing with my work example. I don’t have the Facebook app on my phone (massive battery/data usage) but my colleagues do. I didn’t have to agree to the terms of the app (obviously I agreed to the general t&cs when I created an account) but FB is suggesting people to me based on the information my colleagues are giving away.

Plus location tracking, with cookies, They can easily put two and two together.

I’ve had a similar thing after swapping numbers with a couple of colleagues. I keep work completely seperate from FB but it suggests the two or three people who’ve got my number as possible friends.

I deliberately keep work separate from Fb, and had Fb suggest people I might know who are people I work with. No way am I going to have them on my Fb page, not because they’re people I dislike, just because I want to keep work completely separate from my social life; I never talk about work with anyone anyway, they’re pretty keen on non-disclosure of client information.

Facebook own Whatsapp
Any numbers you phone, text, store, etc are shared between the two hence “suggestions” coming up.
They also track email contacts too going back years.
In the last week or so I’ve had quite a few pop up who I’ve met, hooked up with, dated, etc over the last three years whose numbers I no longer have in my phone but FB/WA have obviously kept track off and are now linking them to me as friend suggestions.

See, I said It’s unsettling.

The location tracking thing freaked me out recently, we just moved house and after about a month it obviously had enough location data to recommend the previous owner as a “someone you may know”…