Thief Texting now?

[JoeJames]

I recently got a new Iphone12 Mini to replace my old free AT&T flip phone. Took the thieves awhile to figure that out. But got a text this morning at 4:46 am in the midst of a sleet/ice storm I had been trying to sleep through. You get a phone or text call at 4:46 am at any time and it will kind of worry you. I finally got enough awake to read it, and this is what it said:

“As a security check against your PayPal account has been restricted.

Please click on the following link to provide your information.” (I did not include the link)

And it went on to say: “If we do not receive a response to our verification attempt ...”

OK, first problem is I do not have a freaking PayPal account. Second problem is that I am pretty used to normal US corporate messages, but this one was so crippled up in grammar and syntax, etc, that it could only have been sent by someone for whom English was a third language.

[tja6435]

I get spam texts all of the time since my phone number is attached to an agricultural license that is public record. Drives me nuts.

[DougGuy]

My wife went somewhere some shopping site or something I dunno, but she clicked on something that let hackers totally lock her phone. The text is: Your phone was restarted and needs to be unlocked. Please type your Verizon password. On anothher screen, a black screen, it said "You will LOST any information, pics, music, movies" and asks for the password again. I obliged with the quasi American reply of ****off *******

She had to take it to the Verizon store here and they got it back in a few minutes. It lost ALL of the custom settings I had, and digging in there to reset everything took ALL DAY. Needless to say I was NOT a happy camper.

[pworley1]

Anything that does not come from someone in my contact list is deleted without being opened.

[Castaway]

Two things, activate your privacy feature so only people you select will ring through on a CD all or text. The other is to block unknowns from ringing through

[MaryB]

NEVER use the public internet provided by stores, doc offices etc. It is usually a target of hackers. Good way to pick up a virus. Burn your own data if you must use the internet while sopping(I do it to check reviews on stuff)

[CastingFool]

Both my wife and I received a text stating that our Netflix account had been locked out. Click on the link to resolve the problem. I deleted the text, as we'd not have a Netflix account.

[megasupermagnum]

Welcome to the club. I'm not sure how your flip phone missed out, but most people nowadays get 5+ messages like that every day, and at least as many phone calls. Your spam filter will get better as you mark them as spam so you don't actually see them often. It has been this way for a few years now.

P.S. turn on your "do not disturb" for bedtime so you don't get them at night.

[ebb]

I would spend $1000 if I could have an app or a related machine that I could click on the link provided and set the person's computer on fire. Mybe $2000

[JoeJames]

Welcome to the club. I'm not sure how your flip phone missed out, but most people nowadays get 5+ messages like that every day, and at least as many phone calls. Your spam filter will get better as you mark them as spam so you don't actually see them often. It has been this way for a few years now.

P.S. turn on your "do not disturb" for bedtime so you don't get them at night.Oh, my free AT&T flip phone was plumb et up by what y'all call Spam, but what I call thieves. I like Spam and just had a Spam sandwich, but thieves I hate. As my grandma would say "A murderer might have a pretty good reason to kill someone, but a thief, never!"

[imashooter2]

I would spend $1000 if I could have an app or a related machine that I could click on the link provided and set the person's computer on fire. Mybe $2000

The person that creates that app will be able to buy and sell Musk and Bezos.

[Rapier]

Too bad you can not send a lighting bolt by wire.

[imashooter2]

I got a lot of those for a short time. Then Apple must have put some filter on or something.

[barnabus]

Anything that does not come from someone in my contact list is deleted without being opened.

same here and blocked also.

[Daver7]

Bought a USB jump drive off Amazon. Plugged it into my old lap top, started getting email within a few minutes. I figure it was bought spyware installed and then returned.

[Handloader109]

Yrs absolutely set do not disturb feature. I allow family, just in case of emergency. And I do my best to ignore any number I don't recognize.

Sent from my SM-S908U using Tapatalk

[JSnover]

You can report the spam (maybe it works, maybe it doesn't) and you can block them. I was issued an iPhone at my job and the spammers were on me like flies on a manure pile for weeks. Must be an Apple thing.

[Nueces]

I got the same 'cry for help' as JoeJames this morning, but I generally silence my iPhone when I go to bed. Have the daughters favorited (option at bottom of contact page), so they'll get through and they know better than to call early or late without good reason.

[megasupermagnum]

You can report the spam (maybe it works, maybe it doesn't) and you can block them. I was issued an iPhone at my job and the spammers were on me like flies on a manure pile for weeks. Must be an Apple thing.

Not at all. Ever since spam calls were no longer ruled to be a crime, they have been non-stop on every phone they can get. It has nothing to do with brand, and everything to do with having your number on a call list. Email is the same way. What is really screwed about the whole thing is the leader of the FCC has not only failed to help at all, he has made it easier for these scammers. If you notice, a lot of these scam calls are from the same place, but they are a different number calling you every time. Since 2016 to be considered a crime by the courts, you have to have actually been harmed, not just annoyed by the spam callers like was the case in the past. What spam/theifs have been doing is using fake phone numbers, and from what I understand there are businesses that do this for the scammers. They are then almost impossible to track since the number they called with isn't a real number anyway.

It's a giant racket, modern organized crime. The FCC knows about it, they have claimed to be working on it, and yet we have not seen anything yet. Its been this way for years. I would just be happy this is the first time you are noticing. Hopefully the new FCC director can fix this mess, but I wouldn't hold your breath.

Currently complaining to the FCC doesn't matter. Blocking phone numbers doesn't help at all. All you can do is report spam on your phone, and hope the filter works it out from there.

[elmacgyver0]

At times, depending on my mood I will respond with two words, the first starting with "F" and the second with "y".
Most times I just delete them.
As far as my phone going off in the wee hours of the morning, sometimes being mostly deaf has its benifits, but not much.

[megasupermagnum]

At times, depending on my mood I will respond with two words, the first starting with "F" and the second with "y".
Most times I just delete them.
As far as my phone going off in the wee hours of the morning, sometimes being mostly deaf has its benifits, but not much.

Every time you reply, your number is marked as active. From what I am told, those lists of active phone numbers are then sold for profit. You are only making it worse for yourself, and giving them business.

[MrWolf]

My wife went somewhere some shopping site or something I dunno, but she clicked on something that let hackers totally lock her phone. The text is: Your phone was restarted and needs to be unlocked. Please type your Verizon password. On anothher screen, a black screen, it said "You will LOST any information, pics, music, movies" and asks for the password again. I obliged with the quasi American reply of ****off *******

She had to take it to the Verizon store here and they got it back in a few minutes. It lost ALL of the custom settings I had, and digging in there to reset everything took ALL DAY. Needless to say I was NOT a happy camper.

Verizon has a call filter app that does a decent job. For those texts, I click on that large button that is at the top middle of the page. The one that identifies the caller. Click that, then block the caller, then delete the message. Verizon's call filter does a decent job as the vast majority of calls I do not even hear but they are listed as recent calls. Good luck.
Ron

[white eagle]

I always reply back with "it's about time".

[MaryB]

New law was passed, telco's have to block invalid phone numbers, that took out some but the ones that spoof valid cell phone numbers still get thru

[Rich/WIS]

Have Verizon and at first there were a lot of spam calls, but by reporting and then blocking they have slowed to a trickle, and only show up when I open the phone. Screen will show the call blocked as spam. Do still get an occasional call for the person who had this number before me, and surprise surprise it is a collection agency. There is also a "do not call" registry for cell phones, not sure how well it works, but went on it and spam calls have all but stopped.

[lightman]

I recently got a new Iphone12 Mini to replace my old free AT&T flip phone. Took the thieves awhile to figure that out. But got a text this morning at 4:46 am in the midst of a sleet/ice storm I had been trying to sleep through. You get a phone or text call at 4:46 am at any time and it will kind of worry you. I finally got enough awake to read it, and this is what it said:

“As a security check against your PayPal account has been restricted.

Please click on the following link to provide your information.” (I did not include the link)

And it went on to say: “If we do not receive a response to our verification attempt ...”

OK, first problem is I do not have a freaking PayPal account. Second problem is that I am pretty used to normal US corporate messages, but this one was so crippled up in grammar and syntax, etc, that it could only have been sent by someone for whom English was a third language.

My Wife and I both got that exact same message the other morning. I wish I was computer Savvy to down load a virus for those people.

[JoeJames]

My Wife and I both got that exact same message the other morning. I wish I was computer Savvy to down load a virus for those people.I wish you were too. I'd buy it, for sure. One saving grace about the what appears to be out of the US thieves is their continual inability to master the English language. As soon as I saw this in the text: "As a security check against your PayPal account has been restricted," I knew it was probably a Pakistani or Indian thief. And since I did not have a PayPal account I kind of figured before that it was a dern thief.

[JSnover]

Every time you reply, your number is marked as active. From what I am told, those lists of active phone numbers are then sold for profit. You are only making it worse for yourself, and giving them business.

It's true. I got a lot less of them when I stopped picking up and stopped replying.

[MUSTANG]

New law was passed, telco's have to block invalid phone numbers, that took out some but the ones that spoof valid cell phone numbers still get thru

Like all Laws; not necessarily enforced. I have had at least a dozen "Missed Phone Call" #'s on my list over the last 3 months. 50% when called back - report the number as not in use. These tend to be foreign Call Center Boiler Operations from my observation.

[uscra112]

Every time you reply, your number is marked as active. From what I am told, those lists of active phone numbers are then sold for profit. You are only making it worse for yourself, and giving them business.

Yes, true. I had to give up the satisfaction of telling the caller that I was suicidal, or suggesting a rude thing to do with a running chainsaw, but over about six months my spam has dropped from about 15 a day to maybe six.

[bubbadoyle]

At times, depending on my mood I will respond with two words, the first starting with "F" and the second with "y".
Most times I just delete them.
As far as my phone going off in the wee hours of the morning, sometimes being mostly deaf has its benifits, but not much.

That’s the response I have to a certain political party texting me asking for my vote. One of them responded saying they’d remove me from their list but their might be other list that will text me and that I could just reply STOP to be removed.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[MaryB]

Like all Laws; not necessarily enforced. I have had at least a dozen "Missed Phone Call" #'s on my list over the last 3 months. 50% when called back - report the number as not in use. These tend to be foreign Call Center Boiler Operations from my observation.

They are still working on the software to detect a spoofed number 100% so some calls get thru. When it went in force I went from 6+ calls a day to maybe 1.

[jonp]

Just got a call from "amazon". Suspicious activity detected and a $1,100 IPhone purchased and deducted from my account. Please connect to a customer service rep to verify" then hung up.
I have no balance to deduct from

[Eddie Southgate]

Got the Paypal one today , deleted it and 15 seconds later got the one supposedly from Amazon. I have both accounts but they would rather slap their mama than cancel either one. Need to remember to start reporting them as spam as I just realized my phone allows for that. It's the Chinese or one of the Asians , easy to tell from the choice of words and phrasing.

[uscra112]

This morning I was waiting for a callback from my doctor's office, so I incautiously snatched up the phone when it rang. Nope, a voice pushing some sort of Medicare fraud came on the line. What was unique in my experience was that it turned out to be an interactive computer. When it asked a question I gave it nonsense answers, and it went right on with the spiel. I predict more of this. Even cheaper than paying Farouk $3 a day to sit in his hovel with a headset on and a script to read.

[Good Cheer]

It's the charger that causes this.

[Daver7]

It's the charger that causes this.
??????

[Digger]

While back I had internet telephone service for my existing house phones ..
Called the service to cancel and while I was talking with the individual with a bit of an accent , heard a rooster in the background ..
[smilie=1::lol:

[rbuck351]

Got that same pay pal thing today but not having a pay pal account, I just deleted it. Because of the bad grammar and the fact I don't have a pay pal account, I figured it was a scam.

[Alex_4x4]

Do you know what the Pakistani virus looks like?

I'll tell you.

You will receive an email with the following content:

"We, Pakistani hackers, will now destroy all information on your computer, but we do not know how to program. Therefore, you must type the command "format c:" yourself and press the Enter key."

[Murphy]

I may go a few days without getting a spammer or thief call. Like many, if I don't have the number already in my phone, I don't answer. I do have voicemail, I figure if it's important they'll leave a message.

Then, I do have my days, I'm human and will be the first to admit it. Sometimes I get fed up with these types of calls and the relief valve gets activated. Some get the message and hang up before I get the first sentence finished. Others, I may toy with right up to the point they think they've got a fish and are just waiting to set the hook. That's when I drop the bomb on them and finish the call with "Boy, does yo' momma know what you do for a living?".

Murphy

[poorman]

Do you know what the Pakistani virus looks like?

I'll tell you.

You will receive an email with the following content:

"We, Pakistani hackers, will now destroy all information on your computer, but we do not know how to program. Therefore, you must type the command "format c:" yourself and press the Enter key."

Like I'd fall for that one again

[jonp]

Don't ever answer a call from a number you don't know. If you do then your a "live number" and you will be on the list to keep getting spam from whoever runs that scam and whoever they sell your number to. If someone needs to talk to you they will leave a message. Same goes for emails. If they make it through your filter don't open them, just send directly to spam or delete.

[Winger Ed.]

while I was talking with the individual with a bit of an accent , heard a rooster in the background ..

During the lockdowns & everything, I was talking to a customer service guy and heard a rooster.
I asked about it and the fella said with that 'Oh no, not again' expression,
'We are all working from home, and yes, I live on a farm'.

[farmbif]

I used to get lots of calls trying to get from me money I dont even have for everything from new windows to donations to a non not for profit, yeah thats exactly what they said, donation to the national police organization.
when I tried telling them that I couldn't talk now there was a shark attack going on and they need to help out by calling Clint to bring a bigger boat, that didn't work.
but when I answered saying they need to enter the ten digit code number to be connected to get all the computer problems fixed. that put a stop to all of them stupid calls.

[Winger Ed.]

Our air conditioner guy was over fixing our AC one day.
Naturally,,,,, I was out there in the yard bugging him when he got a call.
He said, "Excuse me, I have to take this".

It was a sales/spam call. He answered it, then started yelling & screaming every profane word and ethnic slur you can think of.
After it was over, with a big smile-- he told me everyone hates getting those calls, but he kind of likes them.

Back before caller ID, I wasn't much better.
People would ask why I did that.
I told them it was for their own good. If everyone was rude and foul, it would be harder to find people
to do that job, and the companies would have to pay more to get people to do it.

[Tripplebeards]

I got a text on Christmas day from my bank saying that someone in Brazil tried to make a purchase for $11 with my debit card. Luckily they were good enough to catch it. I have all my cards shut off and new numbers replaced immediately.

[uscra112]

As satisfying as it to blow off steam at these lowlifes, they disconnect in about 250 milliseconds and go on to aggravate someone else. Last fall I began to get calls from "almost-AI" systems that simply ignore my insults.

Robot: "How are you doing today?"
Me: "I'm suicidal"
Robot: "Great! I'm calling to show you how to save 35% on your monthly utility bills........."

[uscra112]

I got a text on Christmas day from my bank saying that someone in Brazil tried to make a purchase for $11 with my debit card. Luckily they were good enough to catch it. I have all my cards shut off and new numbers replaced immediately.

As otherwise hateful as Citibank may be, they are extremely good at that. One that they caught was a charge from the Indian National Railway System. Two others led back to a fraudster working from within Paypal. Not cancelling my Citibank card, but I have cancelled Paypal. That was 5+ years ago, so I can smirk when the robocall asks me to confirm a Paypal order.

Y'know what else burns me? The constant incoming calls wear down the battery charge in my wireless handsets when they're not on the charger.