Very few of my clients send me faxes anymore. I guess it’s “so 2002”? I’m not always current with all the latest technologies anymore.   Most of my clients scan the document and then email it to me. But this morning I received an alert for a new fax and my mind thought “YAY!  New presentation opportunity! New Client! MONEY!”  Yes I’ll be honest… this mama loves to earn the bacon.

But then I opened the fax file.  It was a financial transaction authorization and contract; a Roth transfer to be exact.  Skimming through the pages I could see the investor’s full name, address, the name of their financial advisor, etc. etc.  If anyone were handling my financial matters, I would most certainly NOT want them to send my sensitive financial information to the WRONG number.  I’ll be calling the financial firm today to alert them of their error.  What is most concerning is that today is just yet another instance where I have received incredibly personal and sensitive information that did not belong to me.  In the past year I have received an in-patient mental health client admission report, lab results results for someone from another state, a school district’s behavioral evaluation of an at-risk student, and a home refinance agreement.

Am I the only person who frequently receives faxes for things they have no business seeing?  This worries me so much and it makes me wonder who might be receiving MY private information erroneously.  We are all human.  We all make mistakes.  But mistakes can drastically be reduced when we are more mindful about the little things — like dialing a fax number.  What do you think?  Let me know… I want to make sure I’m not overreacting here.