"Oh, I was having some trouble with my headset!" (purchase, income)

[Mightyqueen801]

Have any of you gotten this newest stupid version of the trashy telemarketing call?

My friend first told me about it. She answered the phone, and said, "Hello", but there was no answer at first because, of course, it's a robo call. Then a high-pitched giggly woman comes on and says, "I'm sorry, I was having a little trouble with my headset." Then tries to sell whatever they are trying to scam people with.

The next week she gets the same call with the same "having trouble with my headset" story, and she said, "TAKE MY NUMBER OFF YOUR LIST" and hung up (which probably won't do any good.)

Yesterday, I got the same call with the "Oh, I was having trouble with the headset" story with the silly high voice and the giggles. I just laughed and said, "You're an idiot" and hung up.

It felt good.

[Retriever]

I'm not positive about this, but I think that those calls are part of the new phone scam where they are attempting to record your voice saying, "yes", in order to prove that you gave authorization for the purchase of...something. The first time I got the giggly chick's call, I held on long enough to hear her say, Can you hear me now?...or something to that effect.

I told her to go to hell, and then hung up--but I suspect that both you and I were talking to a recording, rather than to a living, breathing entity. Just hanging-up--and being very careful to not utter the word, "yes"--is the best course of action. And, whatever you do, never follow the directive to "press 1 in order to be removed from our call list". That only tells them that they have reached a live person, and then they will just continue to bombard you with calls.

[JerseyGirl415]

Do people really have nothing better to do than scam people over the phone?

[Mightyqueen801]

Originally Posted by Retriever

I'm not positive about this, but I think that those calls are part of the new phone scam where they are attempting to record your voice saying, "yes", in order to prove that you gave authorization for the purchase of...something. The first time I got the giggly chick's call, I held on long enough to hear her say, Can you hear me now?...or something to that effect.

I told her to go to hell, and then hung up--but I suspect that both you and I were talking to a recording, rather than to a living, breathing entity. Just hanging-up--and being very careful to not utter the word, "yes"--is the best course of action. And, whatever you do, never follow the directive to "press 1 in order to be removed from our call list". That only tells them that they have reached a live person, and then they will just continue to bombard you with calls.

That could be. I've heard of the calls asking you to say "yes". Most of the time when my landline rings, if I'm near it I just lift it and set it down again to stop the ringing. On occasion, if it rings late on a weekend night, for example, I know it's likely somebody from my church who has lost the directory with my cell phone and found me through Information (I'm in charge of the coffee hour schedule.) Then I will answer it.

Occasionally I do answer, just for the heck of it. That time was one.

You are right, we are probably listening to a recording.

[Retriever]

Originally Posted by JerseyGirl415

Do people really have nothing better to do than scam people over the phone?

Apparently not!
And, it appears that many of these calls originate overseas, so I am guessing that these scamming operations might be a significant source of income for people in Third World countries, where they believe that they are beyond the reach of US law.

Here is a hint:
If you pick up the phone and hear something that sounds sort of like a brief "eek" sound, I have deduced that these calls are coming from somewhere on the Indian subcontinent. Before I knew better, if I held on after the "eek" sound, invariably I was talking to...Apu...or his cousin.

On a positive note, I did manage to teach these scammers a few American colloquialisms--mostly consisting of words with 4 letters.

[Mightyqueen801]

Originally Posted by JerseyGirl415

Do people really have nothing better to do than scam people over the phone?

It must be profitable to some. You have no idea how many incredibly stupid people there are out there. My mother was completely disgusted by another old lady at her church who came in one Sunday all upset and wringing her hands because the IRS had called her and told her she had to pony up $5,000 or she was going to jail and she didn't know how she was going to get the money.

My mother told me she said, "Irma, don't you have any sense? Why would the IRS call you and demand $5,000 when you are 82 and haven't worked in decades? Don't you read about these things in the paper? That wasn't REALLY the IRS." LOL, it was funny how angry my mother was at this woman for her stupidity. She had also gotten the same phone call a few months earlier and hung up on them.

[Retriever]

Originally Posted by Mightyqueen801

It must be profitable to some. You have no idea how many incredibly stupid people there are out there. My mother was completely disgusted by another old lady at her church who came in one Sunday all upset and wringing her hands because the IRS had called her and told her she had to pony up $5,000 or she was going to jail and she didn't know how she was going to get the money.

My mother told me she said, "Irma, don't you have any sense? Why would the IRS call you and demand $5,000 when you are 82 and haven't worked in decades? Don't you read about these things in the paper? That wasn't REALLY the IRS." LOL, it was funny how angry my mother was at this woman for her stupidity. She had also gotten the same phone call a few months earlier and hung up on them.

And, I imagine that the little old lady--who almost certainly has very little taxable income--was also told that she should pay her IRS debt with gift cards purchased at Wal-Mart, or some such place. Even if there hadn't been a LOT of press coverage of these scams, just a little bit of analytical thought should have led her to the conclusion that this was a scam. However, the scammers wouldn't be using these tactics if they didn't work in at least some cases, so clearly there are a lot of low-information folks out there who fall for things that just don't make sense.

[daliowa]

I got the "having trouble with my head set" call a few weeks ago. I hung up.


I think the do not call list has stopped working as well as I thought it was some years ago.

[daliowa]

Originally Posted by Retriever

And, I imagine that the little old lady--who almost certainly has very little taxable income--was also told that she should pay her IRS debt with gift cards purchased at Wal-Mart, or some such place. Even if there hadn't been a LOT of press coverage of these scams, just a little bit of analytical thought should have led her to the conclusion that this was a scam. However, the scammers wouldn't be using these tactics if they didn't work in at least some cases, so clearly there are a lot of low-information folks out there who fall for things that just don't make sense.

Ever see the program "American Greed"? It amazes me the scams that seemingly intelligent people will fall prey to without questioning or doing any research.

[va_bank]

I get them twice a day now