With more and more and more companies shipping their call centers overseas. US citizen person private information is just floating around everywhere for thieves to grab.
Typical when a person calls a company they have an account with (i.e. phone provider, credit card, even credit reports), more often than note they are speaking with someone not in nor anywhere near the US. It is typically India and the Philippines but could be anywhere. This means our US laws don't apply. If we call give our account number, credit card number, social security number and date of birth (which is typically requested info) we have given a potential thief all they need. This doesn't the phone rep but anyone hacking their phones/systems and our laws mean nothing and our citizens are vulnerable.