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Phone Scam - Tried On My Wife This Morning.

Discussion in 'Non-Vegas Chat' started by Joe Strummer, Nov 24, 2015.

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  1. Joe Strummer

    Joe Strummer VIP Whale

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    Happy Holidays !........to all the phone scammers !
    *
    My wife picks up the phone -
    person says it's Sears.......
    Seems they just wanted to double check her card expiration date.
    The person mentioned "we already have the card ID numbers."
    My wife is REALLY busy with my screaming 3 yr old + says she's busy.
    The person says "Oh....we can wait."
    My wife says "No....I'm busy....I'll do this later."
    ( at that point my wife didn't know it was a scam )
    She calls SEARS about 20 minutes later ---
    Operator says "We didn't call ?......I'm checking our computer phone log +
    no authorized calls have been made."
    :rolleyes2:
    Wow............I don't know if my wife would have "fallen" for it or not ?
    I'm speculating that "the scam" would have somehow come full circle BACK
    to those card ID numbers - that they claimed "we already have".
    For Example :
    The expiration date would have been incorrect ----- whatever date, my wife said ---
    and they would need to know if the ID numbers matched "their numbers"....for security reasons,
    of course !...........we'll cancel the current card + send a new one immediately.
    Something along those lines ?
    *
    Anybody want to speculate how this scam would have played out ?
    *
    Anybody had a scam on them recently ?
     
  2. ken2v

    ken2v This Space For Rent

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    I just don't answer calls I don't recognize. If it's some dire emergency, I'll only miss the info by a handful of seconds. Simply no need to pick up every call that rings through. If one does get through and it's a situation like this, say thank you and that you'll call back to the company/corporate number, then hang up. Don't even engage the caller.

    Hell, we have a landline number that apparently others know about but we have no clue what it is. lol
     
  3. BayouBengal

    BayouBengal VIP Whale

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    I only answer local area codes. And Vegas numbers...
     
  4. HoyaHeel

    HoyaHeel Grammar Police & Admin

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    I do this. Because I have received real calls about fraud on credit card. But they left a message, and I called back the number on the back of my credit card. And any real company understands why you would do this and won't mind.

    Now, if I could only get the fax machine to stop dialing my office line.....
     
  5. Joe

    Joe VIP Whale

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    I answer all calls on our landline. I especially love the ones from the "Microsoft Security Team". Swearing at them and hanging up seems to give me a great deal of satisfaction. Other days, I just ask them to hang on and put the phone down until they give up.
     
  6. C0usineddie

    C0usineddie VIP Whale

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    Just dont answer the phone. Thats the best defense you can have against these things.

    keep answering every call from strangers and its bound to happen. In this day and age caller id is not longer a luxury.
     
  7. Sonya

    Sonya Queen of VMB

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    We all need to be aware of these scams out there. I don't feel the need to be rude, but I'm pretty clear with people on the phone. I'm trying to teach my husband how to say "No thank you and please remove my number from your call list." We have had to resort to this because he can not avoid answering a ringing phone. :)

    Yesterday I got an email from someone I don't know at a company I work with. They asked me to email my mailing address. I couldn't come up with a reason a scammer would want that info, but I still didn't feel like sending it to someone I hadn't worked with before. I just replied that the info they have for me on file is up to date.
     
  8. UTE

    UTE Plastics

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    Same here - it's as simple as that.

    Bill
     
  9. breanna61

    breanna61 Super Moderator

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    I play stupid and keep those assholes on the line for at least 10 minutes pretending I am trying to follow their instructions (that would allow them to lock up my computer by giving them acess). Once I've had my fun with them, I let out with my tirade on what disgusting, slimey bastards they are taking advantage of people and laugh at them when they cuss me out. I get satisfaction in wasting their time.
     
  10. Nevyn

    Nevyn VIP Whale

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    Sometimes I really wish my bank would give me a fake honeypot CC# to give out to scammers. Just to have them try to use it and get immediately reported to authorities.

    Logistically I know why it doesn't happen. But how much fun would it be to go along with a call like this, and have a scammer popped when they try to use the card?
     
  11. topcard

    topcard Here's to $10 3:2 two-deck, $5 Craps, and $5 UTH!

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    LOL :D
    I've had a few from the "Microsoft Security Team" as well... and I usually have some fun verbally berating them when it happens!
     
    Annual Spring Trip!
  12. wernerw

    wernerw Low-Roller

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    When I get a sales call (scam or not) I friendly ask for a few seconds, so i can finish something. Lay down the phone and continue working. At some time they seem to get impatient and hang up.
     
  13. Joe Strummer

    Joe Strummer VIP Whale

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    I love these "screw with the scammer" moves !
    *
    I've used a made up language with broken English, at times.
    It really gets them annoyed - because i'm ALMOST giving them the info.
    *
    We have Caller ID --- and don't usually answer strange numbers.
    But my wife's mother has health issues - so she might have answered the call because of it ?
    *
    And being on this board -- has made me more aware !!!!!!
     
  14. DRPinVA

    DRPinVA Low-Roller

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    Yet another very timely post.............

    So just about 3 weeks ago I had a long talk with my Mom - the online brokerage that she uses had sent me a notice telling that they had been compromised and that their customers names, addresses, phone number, (but not account information) had been stolen. They warned that the thieves may use this information to try and contact/trick you. Let me state that my Mom is soon to be 86, and this situation would *never* have occurred when she was 20, or even 10 years younger. Anyway, I explained this latest threat to her, and how someone might call her and try and fool her into thinking they knew her in order to extract something from her. My message to her - Don't respond or give any information to anyone over the phone on a call that you did not initiate yourself. We spent a good 15 minutes talking about this.
    Fast forward to Sunday night on our weekly visit... My mom very casually mentions, "well I got an odd phone call last week".... "what sort of phone call Mom?".."well they called me to tell me that they were sending me my back brace and that I should get it in 2 or 3 days, and all they needed was to confirm my Medicare number"...."why do you say this is odd Mom?"...."Well, Dr. Jones didn't tell me anything about prescribing a back brace"...."have you been to Dr. Jones about your back?"....."yes, but that was over a month ago, and he didn't say anything about a back brace"....."You didn't give them your Medicare number, right Mom?...You remember the long talk we had just a few weeks ago, right???".... "well, they said I should get it in 2 days, and that's been almost a week ago"...."you DIDN'T give them your Medicare number, right?"........................... You can figure the rest.... I do a fair amount of work with IT security, and I am a tad familiar with organized Medicare scams. As it turns out, her family Doctor's office had been hacked, which explained how they knew to target their message about her back. And of course, no, Dr. Jones didn't prescribe the back brace. It's a more and more common scam, and of course, even more so with the elderly. :grrr:
     
  15. makikiboy

    makikiboy VIP Whale

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    Yup, I never answer my phone. I have an answering machine and I let it go all the time. I only pick up when I know who is calling, meaning that person will have to first start leaving a message so I know who is calling. With the elections coming up next year even moreso I will never pick up the phone.

    About 5 years ago I got a call from somebody. he wanted to know if I was ..... this person had the same last name as me and the guy lived about a mile from me (or used to) but that was it. the guy was from a collection agency and thought I was this other person. He continued to call me and leave me nasty messages and threatening to get me evicted (funny because I own my condo). I finally picked up and told him that I wasn't your guy so stop calling me. He eventually got the message but a month later another person started calling me, guess they put my name on the list that I was this guy and so like flies on sh they started calling me. I just ignored the calls and eventually they stopped calling. But even now I still get some calls where the person hangs up and doesn't leave a message but I don't care.
     
  16. nostresshere

    nostresshere Mr. Anti Debit Card

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    I am amazed at how many never answer the phone, or certain calls.

    We get calls about potential fraud. THEY provide enough information that I know who they are and they release my credit card.
    We get calls about....well, stuff.

    Is it that hard to discern who is calling AFTER you answer?
     
  17. Aces and Eights

    Aces and Eights VIP Whale

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    I haven't had a landline in a year-and-a-half. I only have a cell phone, and I've only got solicitation calls only three times during that time. One time was because they wanted to verify my charges on a credit card. I didn't have my phone with me at the time so they just left me a message to call the phone number on the back of my credit card. Another time somebody had the wrong number, but proceeded to try to sell me something. They didn't persist after I said, 'no." I'm thinking that they thought they couldn't really do that not knowing if I'm on a "do not call" list or not.
     
  18. Joe

    Joe VIP Whale

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    OK, but I'm not walking through the entire house carrying a cell phone around. We have seven different cordless phones scattered throughout the house. Family room, master bedroom, garage etc.
     
  19. ken2v

    ken2v This Space For Rent

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    Yep. I have a cell phone, Terri has a cell phone (plus one from work), and we have nothing plugged in to a wall though reportedly we have that capability with our internet/cable package. It's been four-plus years since we had a land line. We communicate with the young uns in the family/friends via text, the middlesters have a mix of text/email and the occasional call, the old ones, they like the phone thing. A lot.
     
  20. dfalk

    dfalk VIP Whale

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    lol that's exactly what I do. A couple months ago I got a call from them while I was at work. It was really slow so I acted like the biggest computer idiot and went along with it for a good 30 minutes. Making the guy repeat everything he told me to do, told him my computer locked up and make him wait 5 mins for it to boot back up etc.

    Then I was like hey man I'm getting bored of fucking with you, I just wanted to keep you on the line so you couldn't call someone else who might fall for your bullshit. He started cussing me out and I just hung up on him.
     
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