A stranger may need less money than the cost of lunch to get a surprisingly useful collection of details about you. Your name, phone number, old address, and other personal information can circulate through a sprawling data market where buyers value convenience and sellers value volume.
Criminals don’t need a secret file marked with your name to start building a profile. They can piece together information from data brokers, public records, breached databases, and ordinary online activity. The unsettling part isn’t that every detail costs a fortune. It’s that many details cost very little, especially when someone can buy them in bulk.
