"collect call already paid for" (free, phone, companies)

[findinghope]

has anyone had someone call saying "you have a collect call from a mr. Gary Seal, and the call has already been paid for".
the first time, i said that i didnt know anyone by that name and the man put me through anyway.
the guy got on the phone and sounded like a cheesy car salesman. i thought for sure i was being pranked by a radio station in california (that is where i believe the man stated he was from). i hung up immediately.
today it happened again, this time i just hung up while the guy was telling me i had a prepaid long distance call from Mr gary seal--again.

has this happened to any of you??

PS> this happened on my business phone

[sapphire-rose]

Any information show up on caller I D? I'd report it to the phone company whether it did or did not show up.

[findinghope]

it says "unknown name, unknown number"

[sapphire-rose]

Maybe the phone company can find out??? In the olden days if you called the operator immidiatly after a call they could find the number. With technoligy now I would hope they could. Good Luck I would think that is annoying. Maybe since it's a business phone you could say that "this facility does not accept collect calls"
Plus if it already paid for??? that wouldn't be collect. Sounds like one of those scames I heard about a while back...Then you get slammed with hundreds of dollers on your phone bill.


https://www.ag.state.mn.us/consumer/...tCallsScam.asp

That is just one, it mentions businesses recieving these calls. I searched collect call scams. There are many. From prisons, and Mexico etc...


Reading through many of the phone scams...I found some phone companies offer free "Block third party" calls. After reading some horror stories of people getting bilked out of their money (even if your answering machine picks up) I'm going to call my phone provider and get the block.

[akck]

I would check your account online now to see if there are any charges related to the call. I'd do this for the next several days to see if anything unusual shows up.

[nitram]

Sapphire Rose is correct. More than likely an overseas scam to verify your phone number so they can make calls all over the world and charge it to your phone numbe. It's been happening for years.