WTH - Phone Scam

[Ironhorse]

For the last three / four days we have been getting a supposed phone call from a US Cellular phone number ID on our landline but the female messenger is asking me to contact them in order to verify my new Medicare updated information. Uses my first name and says they have the needed info in their office but just need to verify I am Me, LOL. Yeah, I sure as hell am going to do that! These people need to get a life and quite trying to leech off the public !!

[Stocker]

We average two to five calls a day from the scammers. The April AARP Bulletin has an interesting article about them, worth reading if you have a copy or can get one. Scum of the earth, they make a lot of money ripping off people.

[The Rocknrod]

I had one guy call with an India accent, said he was from "the department of investigations". I laughed.

[Steeveedee]

We get no robocalls- the caller has to press 1 to continue, and the drones haven't got that far, yet. My cell phone either tells me, "Scam Likely", or, if I don't recognize the number, it goes to voice mail (or not). I don't even pick up because then the dorks know that it's a good number.

[Lunnb]

I use the ATT Call Protect app , if your name/number isn’t in my contact list the call goes to voicemail . I used to get 15-20 spam calls per day , now I get zero . If I disable the app I start getting calls with an hour or so . I review the blocked calls periodically and add to my contact list if needed .

['63GENIII]

We keep getting calls from PG&E scammers saying they're gone turn off our power. I thank them for the advanced notice this time

Hopefully they'll do the same this summer when they start rolling blackouts again!

[weq92f]

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Seems to me over the past year or so the scam artists have really been digging deep. My cell phone, which is my only phone, has been several calls a day that are completely bogus. I've got two apps loaded that identify some of them and it says SPAM Warning or Telemarketer. Anything else I don't recognize gets dumped to the voice mail.

Sometimes I'll answer for fun and say something like Earl's Dung Cakes, how many cakes would you like today or City Morgue, we have vacancies!

-klb

[Stocker]

Most calls lately have been recordings, can't mess with 'em even if ya want to. They ask you to press a number..... not gonna happen. We just hang up.

No caller ID on our landline, and I don't answer the cell if I don't recognize the caller.

[Ironhorse]

Seems the scam and robo calls have worsened within the last year. We get at least 6-7 "unavailable" calls on our landline a day. If caller ID isn't recognized or I'm a bit suspicious I just let the machine answer. A lot of hang ups after the
"Hello, please leave a message" from our phone. Those that leave a message I just delete later. Just irritating. For my cell phone, if I get a call and is not listed in my contacts I never answer. Very rarely do they leave a voice mail. I am very cautious about giving my cell phone number but they still find me.

[Dead Parrot]

My landline has an old style answering machine. Most of the robocall bots aren't programmed to deal with one and just hang up after a few moments. All the people I want to talk to know about the machine and talk until I either pickup or they figure out I am not home. Where I live is a dead spot for cell coverage so I mostly ignore the cell phone and just clear out the filled up voice mail when I think about it and am in a coverage area.

Really thinking that a manditory 10 cent charge per outgoing call would do a lot to thin the robocall horde.

[57taskforce]

Originally Posted by Ironhorse

Seems the scam and robo calls have worsened within the last year. We get at least 6-7 "unavailable" calls on our landline a day. If caller ID isn't recognized or I'm a bit suspicious I just let the machine answer. A lot of hang ups after the
"Hello, please leave a message" from our phone. Those that leave a message I just delete later. Just irritating. For my cell phone, if I get a call and is not listed in my contacts I never answer. Very rarely do they leave a voice mail. I am very cautious about giving my cell phone number but they still find me.

They don’t necessarily “find you” per say. the way they do it is, they have their scam/spam message delivered via computer most of the time. The computer is capable of dialing many phone numbers at the same time and delivering pre recorded messages to all of them, most of the time they are fishing scams where they hope that you’ll divulge personal info like social security numbers and birthdates. The numbers that show up on your phone are very rarely the actual number they are calling from.

There’s a bunch of scams going around now where they get you to say “yes” and record it then use the recording to fraudulently have you give your approval to various things that screw you over. I’ve gotten to where I don’t answer any calls unless they are in my contacts. If you answer the wrong one you’ll get crap calls all day after that. I actually did get a call from my boss a while back, only it wasn’t him. Someone had falsely used his number in a spam call. I wish I could post audio files on here easily, I got a hilarious scam voice mail a few months back where the pre recorded message played over twice and it was two different fishing scams left in the same voice mail.

[franken]

I don't answer calls from anyone I don't know.
There's also a block app on the phone but since I only answer calls from one number, why bother?

I have the same name as a person recently hired at work. I get his emails all day long. I used to try on the internal ones to explain but now I just delete them...

Sorry, all that BS meant just don't answer.

Why would anyone have a landline anymore? I only have a work provided mobile phone and would get rid of it if I could.

[FleetsidePaul]

I have a landline at my house in the middle of bum f*ck nowhere. You can't get cellular reception out there. I want to sell that place but my friend lives in a trailer on the property and I can't just kick him out. He's old and he keeps the place up nice. Such is life.

I don't get a lot of telemarketers calling. But I like to tease them when I can. It cracks me up. My latest stunt is that I tell them that I just cr@pped my pants.I say nothing else. And just keep repeating it over and over until they hang up. I know I'm a sick puppy. But I laugh for 10 minutes.

[Steeveedee]

It's amazing how they spoof other numbers. I know a guy who got a scam call, from "his own phone number"! I'd like to know how that works.

[Ironhorse]

Originally Posted by Steeveedee

It's amazing how they spoof other numbers. I know a guy who got a scam call, from "his own phone number"! I'd like to know how that works.

Had the same thing happen to me twice. Looked at the caller ID on the phone and it showed my name and number. I didn't answer the phone just in case I WAS on the other end, LOL. I didn't leave a message either.

[Rickysnickers]

Originally Posted by Steeveedee

We get no robocalls- the caller has to press 1 to continue, ....

Is this on your cellphone? If so, how do you set that up?

[old Rusty C10]

I've been trying to reach you about your cars extended warranty

[weq92f]

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This is your final notice...
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[Steeveedee]

Originally Posted by Ironhorse

Had the same thing happen to me twice. Looked at the caller ID on the phone and it showed my name and number. I didn't answer the phone just in case I WAS on the other end, LOL. I didn't leave a message either.

Talking to yourself again? I talk to myself. One of my friends pointed it out, and I said that if I talked to myself it was for intelligent conversation.

Originally Posted by Rickysnickers

Is this on your cellphone? If so, how do you set that up?

No, it's on the home phone. It would be nice to have on the cell, for sure.

[FleetsidePaul]

I was talking to my Financial Advisor. She told me that she gets bombed with phony calls and the phone numbers are sometimes only a couple of digits different from her number.

She uses her phone for business so she HAS to answer every call as it might be one of her clients.

[1976gmc20]

Originally Posted by weq92f

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This is your final notice...
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If only !!!!!

[1976gmc20]

Originally Posted by Dead Parrot

My landline has an old style answering machine. Most of the robocall bots aren't programmed to deal with one and just hang up after a few moments. All the people I want to talk to know about the machine and talk until I either pickup or they figure out I am not home. Where I live is a dead spot for cell coverage so I mostly ignore the cell phone and just clear out the filled up voice mail when I think about it and am in a coverage area.

Really thinking that a manditory 10 cent charge per outgoing call would do a lot to thin the robocall horde.

Same here, our cellphone is turned off 95% of the time. We only use it when we go to town or on a long trip.

Our answering machine gets a lot of "beep beep beep beep ..." hangups recorded.

[Greasey Harley]

I couldn't take it any more, I was getting 3 to 5 bogus calls a day. I finally got a new phone number
I decided to go with a Wyoming (307) area code. ...because I don't know anyone in Wyoming.
Now, EVERY number that comes up (307) is definitely spam, so I don't answer.
The voice mail also hasn't been activated, so when I don't answer it just says " The number that you have called has a voicemail box that hasn't been set up, goodbye".
These two things have virtually eliminated spam calls getting through.

Originally Posted by old Rusty C10

I've been trying to reach you about your cars extended warranty

Really? My daily driver is a 53 year old pickup

[Dieselwrencher]

It is getting really bad. These look a like local cell numbers sure make a person want to answer but I'm tired of trying to get them to give me a warranty on my 95 F350 with 450k on it.

[1976gmc20]

If I actually answer one of those calls (I can't see the caller ID without my glasses) anymore I have no problem with just hanging up on them whether it is live or recording.