Miracle of technology. If I don't know the number, I don't answer it. If I'm waiting for a call that I might not recognize, I let it go to voicemail then Google the phone number.
Has anyone here had a scam phone call?
- Thread starter Gingerbread Demon
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Miracle of technology. If I don't know the number, I don't answer it. If I'm waiting for a call that I might not recognize, I let it go to voicemail then Google the phone number.
The best thing you can do, if you have the time and compunction, is to talk to them. Just waste their time, talk in circles, be confused, say you can't hear them, got a bad connection, etc.; when they waste time with you, that's one person or more they can't talk to and scam. Some Youtuber people record these and have hilarious videos with the calls. You can do that, too.
And people fall for this crap. I used to know a guy, for example, who wouldn't listen to me when I tried to explain internet safety and what not to do, instead he just kept going to what ever porn site he found and of course got pop ups saying he was infected and needed to call Microsoft. The kind of pop up you have to use Task Manager to shut off. So, one day, sure enough, he came to me with the scammer on the other end and this dumb fucking bastard had given him over-internet access to this laptop! I muted the cal and told him it was a scammer and he was goddamn lucky the scammer has not changed his system key done real damage. I quietly disconnected the scammer from the laptop.
The dumb fuck never learned his lesson. He kept getting the laptop infected, then when he learned how to reboot Windows anew, he would quietly do that each time he got infected, ignorantly unaware that doesn't get rid of all viruses sometimes.
I had to remove sick porn he was watching so his wife wouldn't find it. You CAN get to know a little bit too much about people sometimes.
And people fall for this crap. I used to know a guy, for example, who wouldn't listen to me when I tried to explain internet safety and what not to do, instead he just kept going to what ever porn site he found and of course got pop ups saying he was infected and needed to call Microsoft. The kind of pop up you have to use Task Manager to shut off. So, one day, sure enough, he came to me with the scammer on the other end and this dumb fucking bastard had given him over-internet access to this laptop! I muted the cal and told him it was a scammer and he was goddamn lucky the scammer has not changed his system key done real damage. I quietly disconnected the scammer from the laptop.
The dumb fuck never learned his lesson. He kept getting the laptop infected, then when he learned how to reboot Windows anew, he would quietly do that each time he got infected, ignorantly unaware that doesn't get rid of all viruses sometimes.
I had to remove sick porn he was watching so his wife wouldn't find it. You CAN get to know a little bit too much about people sometimes.
Too many to count. I've got one that's been fairly persistent for years, one claiming to be a debt collection agency, which is funny because the banks it claims I owe, I've never used in my life, and they're always addressing someone else. I figure the phone number was once owned by someone else at one point, as it's fairly common for phone numbers to be recycled if someone changes their number.
Or someone randomly picks a phone number to put in a form, and uses it consistently, on every form they fill out for credit, even though they never had the number in the first place. The company that provides the loan or credit never checks the contact number on the form until the debt is past due.
True, but I find that far more unlikely for some reason. I looked up the particular company they claim to be with on the BBB, and they have a history of going after out of date data, and they want people they contact to prove they aren't who the company claims they are and are very aggressive and hostile.
It's similar to when I got new temp number for when travelling in the US via a pay-as-you-go plan. The phone had been turned on for only about a half hour before I got my first 'wrong number'. Real person at the other end who seemed to be just as baffled when asking for someone in particular and got me instead.
In our previous house our old phone number was previously listed with a brothel. The first six months living there was just so much fun with the calls we got. /s
We did change it after all that stuff
We did change it after all that stuff
I had a particular person named Renee (I also know the middle and last name she used for credit) who lives in another part of the state that used my former landline number on any credit or loan application and then skip on payments. I would get a call from the agency, could see they were collecting debt. I would tell the collecting agent that I was not Renee, I don't know her, and this isn't the first time I had gotten a call about her debt. The mess would get sorted out on that call, because they don't know who I am, or where I am, other than an incorrect phone number and someone without my name.True, but I find that far more unlikely for some reason. I looked up the particular company they claim to be with on the BBB, and they have a history of going after out of date data, and they want people they contact to prove they aren't who the company claims they are and are very aggressive and hostile.
It's similar to when I got new temp number for when travelling in the US via a pay-as-you-go plan. The phone had been turned on for only about a half hour before I got my first 'wrong number'. Real person at the other end who seemed to be just as baffled when asking for someone in particular and got me instead.
A year or two later, the debt agency would bundle the debt they hadn't collected and sell it for a fraction of the total debt to a different collection agency. The new agency would try to get paid for the debt of Ms. Renee and call my number. I finally got rid of the calls by turning off my landline.
I don't think I've had a scam phone call but my sister did this thing where she got this legit phone call or message, maybe about cheap travel or something, and had to refer people. so she referred me, so I got a phone call from this guy telling me about the product and he talked to me for about twenty minutes talking it up and i was really enthusiastic. then at the end i told him i was broke. my sister thought i was being a smartass but i was legit really liking the call and too dumb to just say "no thanks" straight up.
That must have been so awkward! But I hope you at least got to have a bit of fun with it while it lasted.
Yeah, which is what I suspect is happening here. Although the name isn't even close to being similar as mine. And it's been the same agency for at least a decade at this point. And I'm not talking to them because I don't want to personally get mixed up in it. I've gotten both voice and text message versions over the years and the person at the other end sounds very rude.
Everyone's had a scam phone call.
I am still getting creepy hang up calls. I say that as its too late for any "telemarketers" to call. Unless things have changed. Or it's a creepy and pissed off one.
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Question should have been "Has anyone here NEVER had a scam phone call?"
Once I got a call which the Caller ID showed as my own phone number! Pretty good evidence that the actual number was spoofed.
On another occasion, I was incensed enough at an interruption that after declining to answer, I called back, planning to cuss them out proper. Some little old lady (I guess) answered, saying "Please, don't call me again!"
"Again?" I said. "Wait, I know what's going on! These scammers use the last number they dialed to hide their actual number, and they just bothered YOU, disguised as ME. YOUR number is probably calling someone else right now. I'm sorry about that!"
My wife and I bought our phones before moving to another Area Code. Any call that I get using the old Area Code is unsolicited, unless I recognize the number of an old friend there.
I usually don't answer any numbers so tagged. I do have a computer application which I wrote, that lets me enter the number quickly, parses it into "(xxx) xxx-xxxx" format, and submits it to several search engines. From the results, I may find that the number happens to be from a legit business or service that I deal with, in which case I might want to call them back. More often that not, I'll see that the number "belongs" to dozens of people with bizarre names, and I guess that means that scammers are using it on a regular basis.
Anyway, if you can get your phone in another Area Code -- or they let you choose a different one -- I'd recommend doing so. You can thus weed out scammers more readily.
Once I got a call which the Caller ID showed as my own phone number! Pretty good evidence that the actual number was spoofed.
On another occasion, I was incensed enough at an interruption that after declining to answer, I called back, planning to cuss them out proper. Some little old lady (I guess) answered, saying "Please, don't call me again!"
"Again?" I said. "Wait, I know what's going on! These scammers use the last number they dialed to hide their actual number, and they just bothered YOU, disguised as ME. YOUR number is probably calling someone else right now. I'm sorry about that!"
My wife and I bought our phones before moving to another Area Code. Any call that I get using the old Area Code is unsolicited, unless I recognize the number of an old friend there.
I usually don't answer any numbers so tagged. I do have a computer application which I wrote, that lets me enter the number quickly, parses it into "(xxx) xxx-xxxx" format, and submits it to several search engines. From the results, I may find that the number happens to be from a legit business or service that I deal with, in which case I might want to call them back. More often that not, I'll see that the number "belongs" to dozens of people with bizarre names, and I guess that means that scammers are using it on a regular basis.
Anyway, if you can get your phone in another Area Code -- or they let you choose a different one -- I'd recommend doing so. You can thus weed out scammers more readily.
That's insightful, as it's likely what happened to me in the situation I described above with the phone number I had just gotten and only had for about a half hour. I'm guessing the number had already been in circulation via a past owner of that number. Scammer calls a number using my spoofed number, the person on the other end calls the number back and gets me instead, and we're both perplexed. It never occurred to me that they would possibly use the last number called. Although most of this is done automatically using their robocallers, and it's quite ingenious, if rather irritating for those involved.
It's curious though that the providers themselves can't be proactive in preventing from these numbers being spoof in the first place.
I get them every day. I usually decline the call and I wish there was a way for T-Mobile or my Samsung to do better with blocking calls, but they still do happen. The worst now is text messaging, especially political BS.
Yes, sometimes got these *Indian accent* "heeello, here is Micrrrosoft, your system has been comprrromised, please give me your most prrrivate data!" calls. Usually hang them up immediately.
Just today got a call by a Dutch number and a robo voice asked me to add them in WhatsApp. Which I naturally ignored.
Not really scam, but more than a decade ago, I had a number that resembled the number of a medical doctor not far away. When you dialed his number, but made the mistake of typing one of the digits twice instead of once, you got me on the phone instead.
I had a job where I would often work in the weekends and get other days off during the week. So I just wanted to sleep long on my free days, but starting 8am, my phone would constantly ring and, mostly elderly people I guess, would ask me: "Hellooo? Is there Dr. X??!"
The first couple of times, I was nice and told them they have dialed the wrong number ... but some day, I was so pissed I just told them "Dr. X is dead, get a new doctor!"
Just today got a call by a Dutch number and a robo voice asked me to add them in WhatsApp. Which I naturally ignored.
Not really scam, but more than a decade ago, I had a number that resembled the number of a medical doctor not far away. When you dialed his number, but made the mistake of typing one of the digits twice instead of once, you got me on the phone instead.
I had a job where I would often work in the weekends and get other days off during the week. So I just wanted to sleep long on my free days, but starting 8am, my phone would constantly ring and, mostly elderly people I guess, would ask me: "Hellooo? Is there Dr. X??!"
The first couple of times, I was nice and told them they have dialed the wrong number ... but some day, I was so pissed I just told them "Dr. X is dead, get a new doctor!"
Has anyone not? Being scammed is the biggest constant of our culture.
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