OT Harassing calls

Metspitzer wrote in news:17el189bh0ost43s6nfrrtnb21l9joagvf@

There's not really much you can do about it -- the calls are coming from overseas via VOIP, with spoofed caller ID. These clowns are almost certainly outside the reach of U.S. law.

These people are running a phishing scam where they convince you they can get you a lower interest rate on your credit card, and then ask you for your financial information to set it up. Since they're crooks, no, you really can't expect to get their cooperation, and you can't expect them to pay any attention to your complaints. Sadly, they find some victims among the financially desperate, the gullible, and the elderly, who tend to be much more trusting than younger generations.

According to a friend of mine whose husband has been investigating them, part of the problem is that as their boiler room employees learn how to run the scam, they go off and start up the same business themselves. That's one of the reasons for all the different phone numbers. Plus the fact that they're boiler room operations, meaning they shut down and start up again using different numbers whenever the law starts to catch up with them.

She said something else they'll do, if you keep asking them for information about themselves, is to give you the names and phone numbers of legitimate credit card companies and banks. Gullible people are taken in by that; suspicious people will hang up and call those companies/phone numbers, only to find out they have nothing to do with the scam.

Since there's no such thing as content-based killfiles to catch phone spam, the best you can do is hang up as soon as you hear 'Cardholder Services'.

I get the same useless feeling about the Do Not Call List. I don't believe the claim that nothing can be done about it. Where there's a will, there is a way.

So I do the same, I just add the number to a contact that has a quiet ring tone. It works okay. Easier than filing a "complaint" for nothing.

There is software that will use a modem to monitor your phone line You can enter numbers that are allowed to pass through and numbers that are blocked The modem will intercept and block those numbers on the black list

I've found this seems to discourage repeat offenders.

I haven't had a modem in a computer for many years, but I still have a drawer full of them. If I could find software that would block what was on the caller ID I would use it. Not always, but even from new numbers the caller ID says Card Holder's Services.

I used a police whistle on a caller, about 10 times in a row. She called back the next day. Left a message on my machine, suggesting I get psych help.

I was tempted to call back, and suggest she learn what a rape whistle is.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

I've found this seems to discourage repeat offenders.

"tom" wrote in news:jvej5o$k10$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:

How effective is it against recorded messages?

I may have to break out a modem for this. Thanks

I had 6 modems laying around. I can't see very well, but it was pretty easy to guess which was the most modern.

Don't have a land line.

Most VoIP services can have blacklist or whitelist but the problem is they are using bogus numbers so you don't know what the next number they will sending when they call will be.

This guy managed to keep them on the phone for 4 min. I don't think I could pull that off. I may give that a try.

I have had my call display show my own phone number, indicating that I am calling myself with my own phone. Sometimes the number displayed is

I always hit the number to bring on a live operator then put the phone down until they leave. This costs them as they have to pay a live person. If everybody did it, it would not be profitable for them as I'm sure the response rate that brings them business is not high enough to sustain such loss. I knew a realtor that used to call 20 people each morning. For the business he got, he figured it was worth $5/call.

I used to talk to them and string them out but this wastes my time.

Initial question on a lawyer would do nothing. It is for the harassing calls which are illegal even if you owe them.

I have been getting a bunch of calls lately. Some months ago, I got calls from politicians, and some things I belong to. I usually let the a answering machine come on, then it goes to dial tone. Been getting more calls, including from local area code. Sometimes I pick up, then put down. Then there is the free security system, card holders, etc. I get caller I'd on tv, but some are getting through with name unavailable, which I may have to make sure that feature is enabled to block those calls.

Greg

I had a call last night. Rather than hang up, I pressed 1 to talk to a friendly customer service person. I had her believing I had about $60,000 in debt and my interest rates varied from 22% to 32%. She assured me she could get single digit rates.

When I told her I could not verify the card numbers, she hung up on me.