Hardly a week goes by when I get less than a dozen scam phone calls.  I am not sure who is selling the phone numbers but it is getting a bit out of hand.  My wife told me a story today about one of her clients getting ripped by these guys.  It was an elderly couple and they lost a lot of money.

It is hard sometimes to figure out what is real and what is a scam.  The rules I go by are as follows:

I assume all unsolicited phone calls and emails are a scam unless proven otherwise.

If there is some chance the communication is real, I use the listed customer service phone number on the company's or organization's web site to validate the request and NOT the number they provide.

If they request payment in gift cards, it's a scam.

if they require access to one of my PCs, it's a scam.

I am on the Nextdoor neighborhood website and hear about people getting ripped off all the time.  One woman that works at our local Safeway saw an elderly gentleman gathering a bunch of gift cards for purchase.  She asked him what he was doing. He told her Pacific Gas and Electric was going to cutoff his power if he didn't pay them immediately in gift cards.  She told him he was being scammed.  He refused to believe it.  She called the store manager and he told him the same thing.  The light bulb started to light up above his head and disconnected from the guy that was still on his phone.

- A New Jersey cynic living in California

 

I do not answer my phone unless the caller shows up in my contact list.  If it is legit and they are not in my contacts, they will leave a message.  I give no personal information to anyone over the phone. 

I do not answer my phone unless the caller shows up in my contact list.  If it is legit and they are not in my contacts, they will leave a message.  I give no personal information to anyone over the phone.

+1

Scammers not only have access to our names and addresses, but our loved ones as well. One called my aunt, and threatened to kill me and my family, plus her brother(my dad) if she didn't FedEx a money order made from credit card advances to a location in Florida. Got her for $8K. They had her on the phone for five hours, constantly repeating they would do us in if she didn't follow their instructions to the letter. The kicker was they told her who we were and where we lived, so she didn't want to take a chance if case they weren't bluffing.

We helped her pay the credit cards back over the course of a year, since she's a widow in her 80s on not a lot of SS. Supposedly, after the act was reported to the police, they found someone down there, but as far as we know, nothing came out of it.

If I ever get a hold of the b**tards that did this, I'd tie their legs to the bumper of my truck, and not stop until there was nothing but a stump left.

Scammers not only have access to our names and addresses, but our loved ones as well. One called my aunt, and threatened to kill me and my family, plus her brother(my dad) if she didn't FedEx a money order made from credit card advances to a location in Florida. Got her for $8K. They had her on the phone for five hours, constantly repeating they would do us in if she didn't follow their instructions to the letter. The kicker was they told her who we were and where we lived, so she didn't want to take a chance if case they weren't bluffing.

We helped her pay the credit cards back over the course of a year, since she's a widow in her 80s on not a lot of SS. Supposedly, after the act was reported to the police, they found someone down there, but as far as we know, nothing came out of it.

If I ever get a hold of the b**tards that did this, I'd tie their legs to the bumper of my truck, and not stop until there was nothing but a stump left.

They tried a similar thing on my aunt in her 80's in New Jersey.  The goons claimed I was arrested in Las Vegas and they needed money right away for me to meet bail.  My aunt didn't bite and called me later to tell me about it.

 Elderly or not, there are many scams on the go. Some sound almost legit.. Then there's the internet..

 It used to be if the caller had some sort of accent, the call was almost guaranteed fraudulent. Not so now.

 Just don't push any buttons if prompted - hang up.

I answer maybe about 10% of those calls. And those I only answer because the have phished the number to make it look like a local number. The rest my phone warns me of potential fraud or a scam. I simply cancel those calls.

I do not answer my phone unless the caller shows up in my contact list.  If it is legit and they are not in my contacts, they will leave a message.  I give no personal information to anyone over the phone.

+1

+2
Plus, any area code I don't recognize I add to the blocked numbers list.
They change the phone # that shows on your phone, so it looks like a different call every time.
I'll bet I have 60 numbers blocked from the 302 area code.

In my area they use spoofed caller id's from the local Verizon network "925-519-XXXX".  One day I received a call with the caller id matching my cell phone number.

Here in AZ, not answering a call due to area code is problematic, since almost everybody in our community came from some place else and still have phone numbers from their place of origin. I too get 5-10 unwanted calls a day but I answer and hang up after the first word is spoken or if there is a pause.

I get several a day sometimes. Depending on what I am doing or if I am in the mood I will answer. I find it amusing to talk to them and have them hang up on me at times. The other week we were in the car at a drive thru and my phone rings I answered it and they were wanting to talk to me about  my vehicle warranty running out. I truthfully told them this was a perfect time as I was dropping my car off at the shop that evening. I asked them where I send the bill to. They hung up. The one before was a lady who was selling me green energy because the coal plants close to where we live were bad for the environment, I asked her how I would get this electricity she said through the line you have now. I then asked how she could guarantee I was using the power she was selling and not the power from the plants 30 miles away. She assured me she could do that but was not able to tell me how, and shortly after that she call me an xxx and hung up.

I get several a day sometimes. Depending on what I am doing or if I am in the mood I will answer. I find it amusing to talk to them and have them hang up on me at times. The other week we were in the car at a drive thru and my phone rings I answered it and they were wanting to talk to me about  my vehicle warranty running out. I truthfully told them this was a perfect time as I was dropping my car off at the shop that evening. I asked them where I send the bill to. They hung up. The one before was a lady who was selling me green energy because the coal plants close to where we live were bad for the environment, I asked her how I would get this electricity she said through the line you have now. I then asked how she could guarantee I was using the power she was selling and not the power from the plants 30 miles away. She assured me she could do that but was not able to tell me how, and shortly after that she call me an xxx and hung up.

The automated message for a car warranty is what I get.

I get them in the mail too, for a car I haven't owned in 5 years.

The ones I have been receiving over the past few months are:

1. Comcast / Xfinity cannot upload code into my router so they need to upload it using my PC.
2. Microsoft detected a problem with my Windows OS and they need access to my PC to fix it.
3. The IRS has brought charges against me.  When asked for my name I usually say "Joe Biden" or "Donald Trump".
4. There is a warrant out for my arrest and unless I respond immediately the sheriff will come to arrest me.  I saw a YouTube video where the scammers tried this calling the direct line of a county sheriff.
5. A family member is in jail someplace and bail money needs to be wired to them.  They do family research online and know how the person is related to me.

Then there are the more intricate ones:
1.  My wife get a call from a person representing an actress who will be coming to our town for making a movie.  She tried to setup a series of sessions with my wife who is a therapist.  My wife agreed but her guard was up.  They exchanged emails over several weeks and then they baited the hook.  They asked her to wire them money to get their film equipment brought here.  Their excuse was the producer would normally do this but he is out of town.  They promised to repay my wife when they arrived. Right!

2.  I spotted a $5 charge on my charge card statement from some random software company.  I contacted them and got a recording from someone with a heavy Russian accent.  The message basically said that I was probably calling about a charge on my credit card and to give them a bunch of personal info to resolve the matter.  I asked my credit card to remove the charge and report it to their fraud guys
   

Funny you would mention this.  If it is the one I am thinking of, it was the woman police chief of Apex, NC.  The city where the one Pelletheads.com BBQ teams won the inaugural Peak City BBQ competition.

4. There is a warrant out for my arrest and unless I respond immediately the sheriff will come to arrest me.  I saw a YouTube video where the scammers tried this calling the direct line of a county sheriff.