The other day I was out with my flatmate and we started talking with a guy. Stayed together all night long. He offered to keep in contact through Instagram, I don't have it so I asked his phone number but he refused, anyways my flatmate has it so it worked out.
Now I wanted to talk with him regarding certain things we discussed, so I asked my flatmate to ask him the phone number so that I could do that.
The guy replied that he's sorry and means nothing bad, but he doesn't like sharing personal information with strangers.
Now, what I don't understand is why is it alright to share Instagram, where you have pictures of you and not your phone number?
You can choose when and where you interact with Instagram. Trivial to burn and start a new one.
Phone number can be a lot more sticky, esp if you use it to pay your bills or call your nan
@ceresbzns
I guess you are referring to the risk of being harassed by the person you're sharing this contact information with.
As far as I understand it, you don't throw away your Instagram account, you stick with it. I can imagine people doing so in extreme cases, but the gravity of such things is something that could convince to change phone number as well.
You can block phone calls from specific numbers.
From an OSINT and data leaks perspective, a phone number is going to give you more than an Insta
Unless they're being really sloppy on Insta, in which case the answer is probably less about security and maybe more like they're not actually interested
@ceresbzns I'm not sure I understand. Do you mean that the phone number may be used to retrieve information about you that is available on the internet?
@ceresbzns Wouldn't it be enough to know the name of the person at that point? I'd assume that if such information is available it should also be connected with a name.
@rastinza
Names can be redundant (eg John Smith). Names can be easily falsified.
Real name + phone number enables more accurate info gathering.
@ceresbzns Alright, I see. What kind of information can be gathered?
I'm quite reluctant in believing that I seriously have to worry about giving around my phone number.
@rastinza
In the right hands, a name + phone number could get you home addresses, credit history, all sorts of info. Any info that is currently or has been attached to an internet service. Just look up OSINT and you'll get a sense.
Different people have different threat models. You probably don't need to be concerned about giving out your number. Some people have very good reasons for being cautious about their private info, like people who have been stalked.
The MOST likely reason is that this dude is just being cagey. But maybe not.