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I'm almost positive that I've been receiving more of these calls lately, only it's related to debt collections.
To make a long story short - I had serious health issues last winter, had a lot of bills come up, and while I'm working on paying them off, some did end up getting sent to a collection agency.
Where the "scam calls" part comes in is that I'll receive calls from someone saying they're from "XYZ financial services", and calling about a personal business matter. If I have not received anything via snail mail from "XYZ Financial services", I have no way of knowing that this call really is from them, and NOT a scam. (particularly if the caller I.D. shows their number as "Unavailable")
Every time you pick up the receiver -- EVERY TIME -- , even if you hang up on the caller without speaking a word, it sends a message that you're a "live phone number". That information is sold to hundreds of other telemarketers, who start calling you.
Screen your calls. Use an answering machine (not the best solution 'cause it answers calls). Do whatever it takes to ID the caller before you pick up the receiver. Don't answer any caller you don't know. People who think it's fun to play with these telemarketers don't realize they are setting themselves up to receive more calls.
We have a phone system that Blocks unwanted callers from calling us again. It blocks 30 people, which isn't enough but it's better than nothing. The government's Do Not Call List is useless. It's constantly violated, yet the government does nothing.
Our phone companies need to step up. It's MY phone. I pay the bill. The phone is for MY inconvenience, not for telemarketers to harass me night and day. If I don't want anyone interrupting my day, I should have that option to block the entire world.
Agreed! I get these a-holes calling me on a regular basis. I know that if I ever picked the phone up & got one of these scammers threatening me, I would respond in kind. I just don't want to bother wasting my time with even talking to one of them, so these calls always go to the answering machine. 99% of the time, they won't leave a message.
Just by coincidence, I was reading the AARP magazine with Ted Danson on the cover. According to an article they printed, its the REGULATORS who won't allow the phone companies to block spoofed numbers! WTH!!
It says spoofing with intent to commit harm is illegal. The government cracked down on one company. Now regulators are considering letting phone companies block spoofers.
So the phone companies DO have the technology to do it, its the idiot regulators who won't LET them.
Everyone needs to call their senators and reps and find out what we need to do to get the regulators to do their job and protect us from these unwanted calls. (I don't know who this article means by regulators. Public Utilities Commission? Federal Trade Commission?)
This when the power button comes in handy.
It's also what to use if you get a pop up that prevents you from doing anything else and you know better than to click on that X thinking it will close it.
That's how someone I know lost his laptop.
He called the number, they demanded money to "fix the problem."
He refused, his computer was locked, he had to throw it away.
It was an old computer; I think he didn't have anti-virus there ( paid version that is,) so he lost his computer. The "power button" doesn't really work in these cases, because they demand the ransom for real.
"Guess what, I AM the IRS. This call is being traced and the FBI is 5 minutes away from you. Please stay on the line. Do NOT hang up. Do NOT run. You will be charged with felony obstruction if you hang up or flee."
It should be a felony to spoof phone numbers. It's really close to the same as identity theft. Surely the phone companies have a way to stop it and I'm not sure why they don't do it.
People should be writing their state legislators and federal representatives to demand a focus on that kind of activity. Instead, they focus on trivia and let building inspectors and phone scammers romp.
I get at least one a day on my cell phone and several a day on our land line. Our phone has an audio feature that says who it is calling which tells us whether to get out of our easy chair to answer it or not.
Got a NEW scam call this evening. It was a NW Iowa telephone number (13 miles across the border from Sioux Falls SD where we're at) so I answered it. The caller, with the all too common broken English, said that I had left my number on his windshield and that I hit and dented his fender and broke his tail-light. I told him to go to hell and hung up. After hanging up I got curious where he was going to go with this scam and wished that I would have played along.
My guess was he would end up asking for the damage amount in cash or wired to an account so that he didn't turn me in to insurance.
That's a new one on me. I'm familiar with the ones who call and say their grandchild was either in an accident or wreck and needs money. Or the one where 'we've kidnapped your son/daughter/grandchild' and if you don't wire them money now, they'll kill the hostage. They won't let you get off the phone to verify with family members so people pay it only to find out it was a hoax. These creeps are disgusting.
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Too Funny!
