3 ms·

How do they know the CPF you give is really yours (or exists at all)? Do they also insist that you use a credit card?

rlayton2 6y ago
This is a good point. I often "misspell" private information if its not an official form. If someone had more motivation, they could do a "different-secure-number-per-provider" trick and work out who leaked the information.
- myth2018 6y ago
  That's a good idea. I also feed fake data to those "extra-official" enlistments. But never thought about keeping a control to discover the responsible for the occasional leak. In Brazilian drugstores, there are legitimate situations where they actually need your data, e.g., when you need some injectable medicine. In such cases, they need to send an official notice for government control, BUT they also ask you for an original document. P.S.: one might argue that government shouldn't have access to data about injectable medicines you take. Personally, given the severe situation regarding drug-abuse of countries like ours, USA and others, I see some valid motivation in such tight controls.
myth2018 6y ago
There are commercial services which allows companies to query government's database to check a given CPF's situation. But they usually don't confirm that the number you give actually belongs to you. I always give a bogus, yet valid number (123.456.789-09). It's usually mapped to a customer, so somebody has already had the same idea or it's the remainders of a test database. They frown sometimes (actual CPFs follow very distinct number patterns) but didn't complain so far. They don't insist that you use a credit or debit card, which are much more common than cash over here. I couldn't confirm yet, but I suspect that they have access to some identification of yours whenever you use a card, so I usually pay in cash, which is pretty annoying because they never have change.

This is a good point. I often "misspell" private information if its not an official form. If someone had more motivation, they could do a "different-secure-number-per-provider" trick and work out who leaked the information.

myth2018 6y ago
That's a good idea. I also feed fake data to those "extra-official" enlistments. But never thought about keeping a control to discover the responsible for the occasional leak. In Brazilian drugstores, there are legitimate situations where they actually need your data, e.g., when you need some injectable medicine. In such cases, they need to send an official notice for government control, BUT they also ask you for an original document. P.S.: one might argue that government shouldn't have access to data about injectable medicines you take. Personally, given the severe situation regarding drug-abuse of countries like ours, USA and others, I see some valid motivation in such tight controls.

myth2018 6y ago

There are commercial services which allows companies to query government's database to check a given CPF's situation. But they usually don't confirm that the number you give actually belongs to you. I always give a bogus, yet valid number (123.456.789-09). It's usually mapped to a customer, so somebody has already had the same idea or it's the remainders of a test database. They frown sometimes (actual CPFs follow very distinct number patterns) but didn't complain so far. They don't insist that you use a credit or debit card, which are much more common than cash over here. I couldn't confirm yet, but I suspect that they have access to some identification of yours whenever you use a card, so I usually pay in cash, which is pretty annoying because they never have change.