Phone Scammers Getting Smarter...

Ted

Ted

The pilot formerly known as Twin Engine Ted
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iFlyNothing
I have a phone number from where I went to college. I haven't lived in that state in 12 years, and I don't have any friends from that state who I speak to anymore. The benefit of this for a long time has been that I know a call from my home area code is a scammer, and I just ignore it. This has pretty much bee the way it's worked up until a year or so ago. Normally I don't answer phone calls from numbers I don't recognize anyway, unless it's a local area code to where I now live and thus might be someone I actually want to talk to.

The scammers seem to have figured that out. And so, I get random calls from other area codes. I've made the mistake of answering a couple, and then realized they were scam/spam calls and hung up. Well after that, that seems to have clicked in their system, and I get more phone calls from those area codes (albeit different numbers).

It makes sense that they've figured this out, but it's very annoying.

Telemarketers have been a problem as long as I can remember, but this current generation is very annoying.
 
Think there’s a whole thread on this that’s from winter sometime. Yep, until the carriers mandate that caller ID data is tied to specific accounts and refuse to pass anything that isn’t verified, and phone makers create an opt-in system for phone calls on the devices, the junk calls will continue.
 
I like to entertain them..... let them spew... act all interested. Try to keep the, going as long as possible. I don't mind wasting time. When I'm busy, I just hit the button to talk to them or if it's a real troll, star spewing cuss words and venom till it drops. At least it makes me feel good.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
I have a phone number from where I went to college. I haven't lived in that state in 12 years, and I don't have any friends from that state who I speak to anymore. The benefit of this for a long time has been that I know a call from my home area code is a scammer, and I just ignore it. This has pretty much bee the way it's worked up until a year or so ago. Normally I don't answer phone calls from numbers I don't recognize anyway, unless it's a local area code to where I now live and thus might be someone I actually want to talk to.

The scammers seem to have figured that out. And so, I get random calls from other area codes. I've made the mistake of answering a couple, and then realized they were scam/spam calls and hung up. Well after that, that seems to have clicked in their system, and I get more phone calls from those area codes (albeit different numbers).

It makes sense that they've figured this out, but it's very annoying.

Telemarketers have been a problem as long as I can remember, but this current generation is very annoying.
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I don't answer the phone from a non-contact number. If they don't leave a message the number gets blocked.
 
EdFred said:
I don't answer the phone from a non-contact number. If they don't leave a message the number gets blocked.
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The devices need a setting that just tosses non-contact numbers to voice mail. Why they don’t add this, I have no idea.
 
Unit74 said:
I like to entertain them..... let them spew... act all interested. Try to keep the, going as long as possible. I don't mind wasting time. When I'm busy, I just hit the button to talk to them or if it's a real troll, star spewing cuss words and venom till it drops. At least it makes me feel good.
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Thanks. The busier they stay with you, the less likely they are to call me
 
They use VoIP these days, and some are leaving robo messages, despite my number being on the national nocall list.
 
I wish I was as clever as Tom Mabe. That guy was awesome at doing improv and stringing the telemarketer along for a long time.
 
The problem comes when you have customers calling in that are referred to me by the sales team for technical questions. I have to treat every call as a customer until I know it isn't. :incazzato:
 
If the caller isn’t in my contact list ,I don’t answer the call. If they are serious they will leave a message,or text.
 
My son is an IT geek. He enjoys getting the spammers that say they're calling from Microsoft about a "problem with your computer." Sometimes he'll keep them on the line for an hour. Other times, he just says "But I'm running Linux." -click-
 
I dont ever answer the phone*, even if it is someone I know which makes this fairly easy. I wonder if that will become more popular over time.

* Only exception is a previously scheduled call coming in at the scheduled time and/or my wife if she calls twice back to back. But she's only done that a couple of times.
 
Half Fast said:
My son is an IT geek. He enjoys getting the spammers that say they're calling from Microsoft about a "problem with your computer." Sometimes he'll keep them on the line for an hour. Other times, he just says "But I'm running Linux." -click-
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I got such a call from "Microsoft" about my computer problem while I was visiting my mother, it came in on her land line. I answered it and upon hearing that I had a bad virus and needed to go to my computer right now and go to blah blah website, I said, "Okay, but I have a laptop. And this isn't my house, how did you know I had a problem on my laptop when you called a landline at a property not owned by me?" I got some bull about how they knew and I was in great danger of a virus if I didn't do what they said. So I asked for specifics, what virus? What exactly are you wanting me to do? And so on. We went round and round like this for a while and finally he said, "S... my D...." and hung up on me. I got a good laugh out of that, wasting his time and getting him upset.:D I of course then called mom's phone company and reported it.
 
Half Fast said:
My son is an IT geek. He enjoys getting the spammers that say they're calling from Microsoft about a "problem with your computer." Sometimes he'll keep them on the line for an hour. Other times, he just says "But I'm running Linux." -click-
Click to expand...

I love it when I get one of those calls (assuming that NOMOROBO doesn't block it). I ask them which computer they're talking about and they always say "your Windows computer". Again, I ask them which one? I don't tell them that there are at least 5 running Windows in the house at the same time. How can they know? What is the IP address of the computer that is causing problems? I keep them going until they get tired and go somewhere else. What a bunch of idiots.

Rushie said:
I got such a call from "Microsoft" about my computer problem while I was visiting my mother, it came in on her land line. I answered it and upon hearing that I had a bad virus and needed to go to my computer right now and go to blah blah website, I said, "Okay, but I have a laptop. And this isn't my house, how did you know I had a problem on my laptop when you called a landline at a property not owned by me?" I got some bull about how they knew and I was in great danger of a virus if I didn't do what they said. So I asked for specifics, what virus? What exactly are you wanting me to do? And so on. We went round and round like this for a while and finally he said, "S... my D...." and hung up on me. I got a good laugh out of that, wasting his time and getting him upset.:D I of course then called mom's phone company and reported it.
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That would be fun. Mom has internet on her cable (needed for some feature on her phone service), but she doesn't have a computer.
 
I've gotten the I'm calling from Microsoft call before. I responded with "I don't own a computer." They were completely confused and dumbfounded that someone didn't own a computer.
 
Literally just got a spam call as I was readIng this thread. Unrecognized number so they get bumped.

As I said in previous thread, I want a feature that immediately googles the # and shows search results. Sure enough goggled the # and it pops up as a spammer #! I have had google results that told me it was from someone legit I was expecting so would be a nice option to have
 
My mobile phone provider is the worst offender. Calling at the most inconvenient times trying to sell me more services.

After the introduction they usually start by asking "What do you use your phone to do?". There's always an awkward silence when I tell I make phone calls with it, and then stop.
 
Android has this feature, Or at least samsung does

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 
I've been seeing a lot of calls from "scam likely" on my phone. I answered one once and it was a customer service survey from a rental car company I'd used.

I'm now going to start answering all these surveys with "everything was fine until you decided to bug me for a survey".
 
Land line with answer machine. If I don't recognize the number the machine gets it. When the kids were little and I got a sales call or like, I'd hand the phone to one of them (3-5 yr olds). Kept them busy until the dumb one on the other line realized who, or what, they were talking to. Hardly use my cell at home because of terrible reception hence the land line. But do use cell when traveling and I know who is calling.

As far as scammers getting clever, local news station other night had story on this and one of the anchors said he recently received a call from his OWN number?
 
old cfi said:
As far as scammers getting clever, local news station other night had story on this and one of the anchors said he recently received a call from his OWN number?
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They must use your phone's area code and first three digits then randomly generate the last four. I can see where they'd hit on your own once in a while. A couple of times I have researched the number that supposedly called me and if I found a name and address associated with it, did a deep dive into who they are. I would find normal innocent people and know they didn't actually place the call. So I don't report the number or bother them by calling and asking what the f they were calling me for, like some callbacks ive gotten from other victims who got spoofed by my number. Now I always reject numbers that look just like mine except the last four digits.

And then there are the numbers I don't recognize that may or may not be legitimate calls. The majority are not so I usually reject those, sometimes rudely if I actually answer and they don't identify as being legit fast enough. One such call i rudely hung up on, they called right back and turned out to be from a company my husband had applied for a job and they wanted him to come for an interview! Why they had MY number and not his is a long story but I had to mumble something about sorry we got disconnected before.

Theses criminals need to burn in the lowest level of hell.
 
teejayevans said:
They use VoIP these days, and some are leaving robo messages, despite my number being on the national nocall list.
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Given the total inadequacy of enforcement efforts, I suspect that all the do-not-call list accomplishes is to give spammers and scammers my phone number.
 
It was fun once or twice with the 'MS reps' back in the day: "sorry, I am so slow with this, I am a hunt and pecker. Now, son, do I need to capitalize the b in backslash? Colon? Let me tell you a funny story about my colon . . . "

Nowadays, not a contact, over to voicemail. Quick call back MIGHT get answered, depending on my mood.
 
EdFred said:
Everyone should just forward their calls to the FCC or their congressman or the White House for a month. When their phone lines are completely locked up that they can't use them then they might do something
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I like that. My concresscritters aren't worth anything, anyway. Might as well give them something real to worry about. :p
 
Something new popped up for me this week. I’ve had 2 calls that came from a first name last initial, e.g., Matthew W. Since I didn’t know either name I was even less inclined to answer.

The worst day of the week was 6 calls, a combination of numbers mimicking my own area code and exchange, one of these “names”, and a couple of out of staters.
 
I think my Verizon voice mail has a short greeting - I get messages where the spammer keeps saying "Hello?" - some delay in their auto-dialer that connects the human after the voice mail greeting is finished, but before the spammer gets connected? Not that I care much, but do wonder if that keeps my number on a list of "numbers that answer"?
 
Bulldog573 said:
Something new popped up for me this week. I’ve had 2 calls that came from a first name last initial, e.g., Matthew W. Since I didn’t know either name I was even less inclined to answer.

The worst day of the week was 6 calls, a combination of numbers mimicking my own area code and exchange, one of these “names”, and a couple of out of staters.
Click to expand...

Been getting both of those for a few years now.
 
I accidentally answered a call from someone trying to sell me electric service. "John Walker" with a heavy foreign accent asked me where I get my electricity from.
I spent 20 minutes telling him my electricity came out of the "holes in the wall". He became incredibly frustrated which amused me immensly. Once I got bored I just hung up. It was fun for a little while.
 
@Ted DuPuis

Almost all of the calls I get on my cell follow a very predictable pattern.

@ Noontime almost every day I'll get a call from some unknown number from some far flung place. Today was New York but it's sometimes California, many from Texas (they really like the 214 area code), New Jersey, Florida, where ever. I don't answer it, of course.

Then, shortly thereafter, always within 30 minutes, I get a call from my own area code and prefix. And, again, it goes unanswered.

This literally happens almost every day.

I get a few others at random but they're far less common.
 
timwinters said:
@Ted DuPuis

Almost all of the calls I get on my cell follow a very predictable pattern.

@ Noontime almost every day I'll get a call from some unknown number from some far flung place. Today was New York but it's sometimes California, many from Texas (they really like the 214 area code), New Jersey, Florida, where ever. I don't answer it, of course.

Then, shortly thereafter, always within 30 minutes, I get a call from my own area code and prefix. And, again, it goes unanswered.

This literally happens almost every day.

I get a few others at random but they're far less common.
Click to expand...

Same. They even left a voice mail today saying I’m “elligible for interest rates as low as 6%”!

Nice of them to offer me a loan I’ll never take, ever, I guess.
 
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