I just got an automated call supposedly from Amazon saying something about an unauthorized purchase on my account. They supposedly put the purchase on order. I was supposed to press 1? if it was legit. Surprise, surprise. It's a scam.
Yeah, I been getting those about once a month for last six months or so...
Yep - scammers are especially busy during & after the Christmas shopping weeks - both phone & email. The telephone scam from "Visa" <bot> is actually a little bit convincing - stating unusual purchases made overnight and giving exact amounts. The give-away - instead of saying to call the number on the back of your credit card - it says " Press 1 to speak with an agent " .. The email scams often look legit - with links to fake but legit-looking web pages - but they will refer to you as dear customer .. John T.
I have been getting them on both the phone and in my eMail. The eMail ones tell me I charged this and that and to give my information so they can verify it.
I use call blocking a lot. The Google Scammers have started removing the phone number from their caller ID and only read "out of area"
I got one just now that said there was a problem with my account (I don't think it said what account) and I should press 1.
So I did and when he came on he asked me how I was.
I said, "Not good. I understand there's a probelm with my account." Yes, sir" "What should I do?" I tried to sound sincere**, but there was just silence after that, and eventually a busy signal.
**Once you have sincerity down, the rest is easy.
Okay, I fully support Arlen's Quixotic attempt to get OT crap out of this group, but scam calls take place in our homes so I don't think this is completely OT.
Getting the scammers to stay on the line to waste their time appears to be a fine art. Go just a little bit off the script they are looking for and they hang up. That's what you did wrong, you appeared to be an American with a functioning brain.
I think the farthest I got was about 5 minutes with the auto warranty scammers.
But here's a technique that I like a lot:
Just pick up the handset and don't say anything.
A robot will just hang up whereas a human will eventually say "hello?".
I don't know if this will get the robots to call somewhere else, but I find that if I don't hear the scammers robot, I don't get nearly as mad.
My all time record is 40 minutes with a computer guy, 30 minutes with the social security. Most are less than 5 but I've been cursed out a lot.
I get the credit car interest most every day. I always ask if I can still use the card. When the say yes, I replay "good, I have to pay your mother $10 tomorrow after I ### her.
Excellent work, not sure how you did it but nice job. It's usually me that resorts to the cursing. I did have one Indian go on at length about how he hated Americans and how stupid they are.
Yeah, a few times a day on the CC interest. I've had a barrage of calls from Marriot. Don't bother pressing 2, they don't stop calling. I'm going to do everything I can to never stay at a Marriot again.
Is that wise since they know your phone number? If pissed off enough they might make you a harassment project. And blocking won't help with different munged numbers.
I pissed off a guy that had my fax number and he deluged the machine with crap. I got him stopped but it was a PITA.
I went to Google translate and learned a few choice words in Hindi.
Love the description.
I have found that they only use a series of fake numbers. As soon as you get them all, blessed silence. I finally got the fake auto maintenance policy and the fake google listing criminals shut up. Oh the fake Dell and Microsoft calls too.
Did he vote Democrat several times this last election like he was suppose to?
Where did I hear a guy got a cold call from himself?
Ask them how the weather is in Pakistan and you can collect a lot of those words up in their original translation!
Hi Ed,
I had a customer call me (I am a computer consultant) that called me because he fell for one of these computer scam calls. He wanted me to check if the guy had planted something. I could not find a thing. (No financial information was exchanged with the criminals.)
On intensive questioning of both his wife and him, it turns out that both their computer skill were so low, they could not following and execute any single command the criminal gave them to do. NOT ONE SINGLE THING. Wasted over an hour of the criminals time. THEY NEVER CALLED BACK.
When I explained what they had done to the criminal, we all chucled a bit. They wondered why the criminal cussed that them and hung up. I told them I was proud of them. They did not know if I was insulting them or complimenting them.
:-)
-T
The really smart ones put me on their do no call list. Most of these is a guy at a call center in India.
These uncaring morons are most likely part of the troll bot's repertoire.
o From: " snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com" snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com o From: Bob F snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com o From: Bod snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.co.uk> [Message-ID: snipped-for-privacy@mid.individual.net>] o From: Frank snipped-for-privacy@frank.net o From: FromTheRafters snipped-for-privacy@nomail.afraid.org> [Message-ID: <rpoesi$g1e$ snipped-for-privacy@gioia.aioe.org>] o From: Dean Hoffman snipped-for-privacy@clod.com [Message-ID: <rpo6ak$7q8$ snipped-for-privacy@gioia.aioe.org>] o From: Idlehands snipped-for-privacy@nospamhush.com o From: micky snipped-for-privacy@fmguy.com (refuses to _not_ be a moron) o From: rbowman snipped-for-privacy@montana.com o From: T snipped-for-privacy@invalid.invalid (he said he refuses _not_ to be a moron) o From: trader_4 snipped-for-privacy@optonline.net o From: ZZyXX snipped-for-privacy@CampSoda-Restoration-Project.tv
He finally hung up when I told him I was going to light some incense so we could chant over the computer to fix it.
The Marriot thing you have to qualify by age and income. I told them I was 82 and my wife was 25 and she was too young.
They also get pissed since it is 6 night and 7 days I've asked if I could split it to two trips, one for the 7 days, the other for the 6 nights.
The social security thing is another. There was a rental car in my name and they found drugs, etc. They even transferred me to talk to the police chief from my town that had the warrant for my arrest. He must be new and he has an Indian accent too.
I imagine even a pissed off guy in far off India could make you his phone harrassment project if he really wanted to. The required technology is certainly cheap and easy to do these days.
I also avoid pissing off people who know where I live for the same reason.
The original call is a robo caller that then transfers you to the stooge. They probably get cursed out often for the $2 a week they get paid.
Had a couple of robo calls from Mike for cheaper car insurance. The recording asks for some information and then an agent will call you back. it asks you to spell your first name H E Y W O O D and then asks for last name J A B L O W M E. So far no one has called me back.
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