Apologies if this is already common knowledge. I don’t know about it and found it a bit concerning so I am sharing it here.
I few months ago I started using the Rakuten credit card. Before this I was using a JCB card that I still have.
Last week I went to Dominos, did not google about it or anything. Paid for it using my Rakuten credit card. I came home and immediately got an advert for Dominos.
A few days ago, I went to a supermarket a bought a bunch of things. It included this small packet of oat milk tea. I had never tried it before. Paid via Rakuten card. Go home and immediately get an advert for the exact same product of the exact same brand on YouTube.
I prefer to use card instead of cash but seems like they sell all of our expense info to google.
This makes me a bit uncomfortable, so just thought to share.
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Edit to add some information:
Thank you to everyone who replied. I see that it must be the phone.
I started using iPhone recently. Before that I was using android. As it is new, I don’t have the Google Maps app, dominos app or the Google App. When I visited Dominos, I did not use maps.
For the supermarket- I had some two or three things. So, I was really surprised when I got the advert of this item even though I have never googled about it before.
I did not use any points to buy these items, just the credit card from Rakuten.
15 comments
The card would NOT have any information on what items is included in your supermarket purchase, so it is probably not from Rakuten.
Isn’t that how points work? Buy your booze, ciggies, and snacks with cash.
Mr Bond, they have a saying in Chicago: ‘Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it’s enemy action’
if I am not mistaken the one doing that would be your phone .
IDk whether you have iphone or android but they do track you to see what you like or dislike.
there has been several people testing it and it is scary but true.
Like if you have your GPS on or MIC on all at all times they know what you want what you are buying what are your preferences and stuff like that . You can look it up n youtube if you want .
>Last week I went to Dominos, did not google about it or anything. Paid for it using my Rakuten credit card. I came home and immediately got an advert for Dominos.
Are you logged in to Google maps by any chance? If so they can track your location, and might use it for advertising.
>A few days ago, I went to a supermarket a bought a bunch of things. It included this small packet of oat milk tea. I had never tried it before. Paid via Rakuten card. Go home and immediately get an advert for the exact same product of the exact same brand on YouTube.
This one is a bit harder to explain. Could of course be a coincidence.
But how would they connect your Google account to your takten card? Are you using the same email for both accounts? And how would they get what item you bought, that shouldn’t be known even to the credit card provider?
I wouldn’t be surprised if they sell your data, but not sure if it would be direct access like that, and definitely not item list.
It’s your phone. When you step inside a domino’s place, it sends your location to Google and Google knows exactly what that location is. It sounds scary but it is kind of an open secret for tech people
Cookies “shouldn’t” work to target your individual purchases. That’s too much Personal Identifiable Information (PII). Also on the Google side they are not the ones targeting you, it’s the brands.
For Dominos I would say it may have been location data tracking (Google Maps, Dominoes app for points, or a point based app or system).
For the cookies any chance you bought it due to them advertising more in the shop & they were also advertising online?
Credit card companies certainly make sure they get the most out of the data/information they get on you. Point cards are the same. You get a few points in return for your data which they in turn sell or turn into profit otherwise.
As others pointed out, it’s unlikely that Rakuten Card sold your data but it was probably Google. Rakuten Card will most likely share the data with other Rakuten Group companies as part of their “eco-system”.
For every product or service you use that you don’t pay for, YOU are the product and pay for it with your data. Who gets access to that data and how/where it flows, nobody knows to be honest. Some call it the “new oil”, others call it more the “new plutonium” because you can’t get rid of it anymore once it’s out there and it can’t be stopped.
It could be coincidence or it could be that both the businesses you patronized sold your purchase data to data brokers who then sold it to Google. This is entirely automated and happens in real time when existing contracts are in place.
It could also be that Google already has so much information about you that they were able to accurately predict your desire for pizza and oat milk tea. That seems impossible but [individual retailers have been able to make accurate predications for a long time](https://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/02/16/how-target-figured-out-a-teen-girl-was-pregnant-before-her-father-did/) and Google knows **far** more about you than any one retailer ever could.
You can try to fight this in a few ways:
1. Don’t use point cards. They’re so damn stingy with the points these days that they are all but meaningless anyway.
2. Pay with cash. Should be self explanatory but using your credit or debit card associates your name with your purchases and makes you trackable. Cash is anonymous.
3. Use Firefox as your main browser on your PC. Chrome is a disaster for privacy and just feeds more information to Google.
4. Avoid using Google Search if you can. This is a hard one because it’s still the best search engine out there if you’re trying to find something very specific. Duck Duck Go is the best option for privacy but it’s hard to give up Google completely.
5. Install [uBlock Origin](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/) on Firefox. You can whitelist a few sites if you want to support them by viewing ads but you should be blocking ads and trackers on the vast majority of sites you visit. It will also by default block a lot of malicious sites completely. uBlock is very straightforward and can be used effectively by anyone.
6. Consider installing [NoScript](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/noscript/). This does require a bit more active management than uBlock but it provides a higher level of protection than just uBlock alone. It is especially effective at protecting against malicious sites, but it will break more sites and require you to set up exceptions. It is not for everyone but you may find it worth trying out.
7. Consider installing [Cookie Autodelete](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/cookie-autodelete/). You can configure it to keep cookies for sites you want to stay logged into but delete cookies for everything else when you close browser tabs. Personally I have it delete all cookies for every closed tab but this does mean logging in every time I visit somewhere.
8. If you are technically inclined then setting up a [Pi-hole](https://pi-hole.net/) on your network is an excellent next step. The pi-hole team has made it as easy as possible to set up and use but it still requires more effort & knowledge than any of the above options. Once set up and configured it will provide a level of blocking for all devices across your network. You should still combine it with using Firefox, uBlock Origin, and NoScript on devices that support it but an additional layer of security/protection/privacy is always helpful.
You cannot completely avoid being tracked online but you can make it a lot more difficult while also improving your browsing experience and blocking malicious sites and scripts. And don’t feel bad about blocking ads, they have often been a vector for malicious script installs and other attacks.
Why would they advertise the same thing you just purchased? There are a lot of ways to track your activity. I agree with another comment. Likely your phone.
Maybe your phone is tracking you.
It’s more likely that you bought promotion items, or did some research on your phone at some point, and now your cookie profile is “re-targeted” toward that product.
I know of no POS aggregator that can accurately get line-item level detail on transactions. Not even Plaid.
There are a ton of rules and restrictions around what data financial services companies can share and utilise for marketing purposes. If you can in any prove that your data was sold in that way, you could in fact get Rakuten into a ton of trouble with financial service regulators. Financial data is not easily shared.
I don’t think it matters if you have an Android phone or iPhone. I’m pretty sure your location information can leak via an app that has location privileges on your iPhone. They have to disclose that they collect location information, and you can decide if you want the app to always be able access your location or just when the app is open. Together with your IMEI and home WIFI, they or a third party data broker can identify you. In addition, advertisers and data brokers have gotten so good at creating profiles for us now that they can predict the kinds of things we might be interested in.
I can’t contribute much except to say: I’m dreading the day everything is digitally-connected and the robot checkout says:
“Hey fatso put those Dorito’s and ice creams back, your blood pressure is high and you’re too fat. Fatty. And no more buying cargo shorts”
Until then, don’t really give a crap.