Scam call

[Rick Hodges]

A stupid Question/s (Yeah, that might mean I am Stupid - But):

Why do we never hear of any States or the Federal Government making arrests associated with the Illegal Criminal acts?

Why do we never hear of any State or Federal (i.e. FCC) actions that resulted in one of these operations being detected and shut down?

It just isn't a priority. I did hear of the Indian's taking down some 70 persons for the "IRS is coming to get you" scam a couple of years ago...but there have been others to fill in the vacuum. I think our authorities put pressure on the Indians.....but there is not enough of it for sure.

[Rufus Krile]

Got a call from "Mike" with a heavy Indian accent informing me that I was eligible for help in sorting out my MS Windows problems... I interrupted him to identify myself as "Rajinesh Kuranjee" and that I had called him with some good news about his credit card interest rate... "Mike" being somewhat slow out of the gate, tried to explain that it was HE who called me and that, apparently, I wasn't playing fair. It took in excess of 10 minutes for him to get his head around the idea that this had all gone terribly wrong and it MUST be some phone company screwup linking one boiler room to another. Then I broke the news to him about having a Mac instead of a PC and, subsequently, no MS Windows problem to solve. He hung up calling me the vilest names he could think of... proving he is an amateur at that, too.

[woodbutcher]

Just love it when I get the"lower your credit card interest rate"call.Have`nt had one of those things in 50 years.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

[jimlj]

Guess what?? I (because I'm a valued customer who has stayed at one of their resorts in the past) qualify for a 3 day 2 night stay for free!!!! I'll bet YOU aren't special like I am. Also, because I (or someone in my household) has had chronic pain in the past, the "medical center" is offering a special deal just for ME!!! Woo HOO!!

[Houndog]

I had one particularly annoying phone scammer calling at least 3 times a day until I answered his call "Federal Communications Commission fraud division how can I direct your call?" That was the end of his calls!

[Handloader109]

Just tell everyone you know that there are a bunch of scams out there. My mom has had a bunch, I get all of the above weekly. Mom actually had guy call and pretend to be her grandson.... who needed bail money be careful

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

[bdicki]

I got a call telling me I won a vacation to a central Florida theme park.

[Taylor]

Haji keeps trying to sell me windows. So one day I decided to play.

-How many windows do you need?
--1
-Just 1?
--Yes
- Are you the owner of the house?
--No, I'm just an inmate here.
-click-

[jonp]

We get several types. Credit card, student loans, someone from several numbers in our home state looking for people (not sure how that one works as she didn't answer), threatening guy saying there was a subpoena for my arrest (I think that's a little backwards, a subpoena compels you to appear in court not be arrested. That would be an arrest warrant and I doubt they would call most of the time but I did have the Sheriffs Office call me once and tell me there was one against me and want me to come straighten it out).

Now I just don't answer the call unless I recognize it.

[Wag]

Most of those have been going around for a long time. There is no doubt they work (and the people are gullible) otherwise, they wouldn't keep running the scams.

The other day, I got a new one, claiming to be from a church of some kind. Pretty vile, if you ask me, to use the name of a church or a god to run a scam on people. Ugh.

--Wag--

[Goatwhiskers]

Well, shoot, now I'm feeling all depressed. Made me realize I haven't gotten one in a week. GW edit: at least I've never gotten one after about 8pm.

[alamogunr]

I got one the other day that I didn't answer so they left a voice mail. The woman said if I didn't return the call(she left a phone #) they would "get" my social(whatever that is) and freeze my checking account.

My biggest problem right now is email spam. My email program, Thunderbird, catches most of it and calls it "junk" and puts it in a different place. It has increased greatly in the last couple of weeks. I downloaded 18 emails the other day and 15 of them went to junk.

After the 1st of the year I'm going to get my "computer guy" to look into it. I've already had one site message me that my email was on a spam list.

As far as Card Services goes, Cathy must have gotten the word from Rachel that I'm not interested.

[6.5 CM]

Well worth it to have called ID and Voice Mail and NEVER pick up the phone.

I used to love stringing along the "Windows" guy for laughs. I'd let him run on until he asked what OS I had. I'd say "Tiger" (yes it was years ago) and there would be silence followed by dial tone.

[nicholst55]

We got a cold call at the front door right before Thanksgiving. We were visiting my son in Maryland, and I was downstairs napping when this clown rang the doorbell. My wife answered (son and DIL were at work) the door, and he asked if she was Jennifer (my DIL). 'No. What do you want?' I'm Julio, from the IRS. I need to speak with Andy (son) or Jennifer about a very serious tax matter. 'Tell me what the issue is, and I'll contact them.' I can't discuss it with anyone except them. 'Well, if you won't tell me what you want, perhaps you should leave.' He left a business card - a very legitimate-appearing business card - with the actual address of the Baltimore IRS office on it (and I'm guessing a non-legitimate phone number), and said that either Andy or Jennifer need to contact him immediately. Or else!

The IRS doesn't send people around ringing doorbells, especially during the middle of the day, when the only people home are elderly, retired (and hopefully gullible) folks. I only wish that I had answered the door, because the cops just might have gotten there in time to arrest this scam artist!

[6.5 CM]

The solution:

[firefly1957]

I do not even listen to most phone calls anymore so many scams i just hang up if it is not someone i know!

[Dinny]

I got the same calls as the OP. I quickly looked the number up using a reverse lookup online service. It came up as fraud/spam. Game on! I kept them on the line for 14 minutes while I explained all the problems I've had in my entire life. I was bored at work and thought they would have a less productive day too. Afterwards I called the SS Administration. Their IG has an ongoing investigation and appreciate any details you can share.

OT: Taylor - I was once a Widowmaker too.

Thanks, Dinny

[Idz]

Long ago I proposed to a Congressman that the easy fix would be to add a phone feature so the consumer could hit a number (e.g. *777) and the telemarketer would be backcharged $1 for calling you. The unsolicited calls would shut down pretty fast.

[bob208]

it has been 2 days since the last scam call. then I found out what happened. I forgot to charge my phone.

[Tripplebeards]

I received the same call three times in the last couple weeks. The last one said if didn't call them back the local police department would be notified and come to arrest me. I reported them to the local PD and was given a number to the consumer services protection line. Consumer services were well aware of this scam and said the calls were comming from over seas and they change their number as fast as its given to them. I called the number back twice and won't type what I said to them.