Annoyed by All Those Scam Calls?

[special ed]

My house land line is AT&T . They have a benefit for land lines, press *61 after a call to block that number. It was full before two weeks. Now I answer in my best "Lurch" voice, "You rang" followed by "UUGIE-DOUGIE". After learning the proper pronunciation of Zubr, I add ZUBR-ZUBR. This usually gets a disconnect. Never say "Yes" on the call because you most likely have agreed to something that will cost money. Some automated calls have my first name and ask for me by name. Never say yes or agree. I ask who is this.

 

[special ed]

I once got a live call from a young sounding person who told me my grandson was arrested and in jail in New York. I knew he was too lazy to move his fat a$$ from his room in South Carolina, so I said, "Good. Leave him there." A quick call to SC revealed he was still asleep.

 

[SaparotRob]

My Aunt received the same kind of call except it was about me. The Railroad had all personnel directly involved with train movement turn off personal phones. I forgot to turn mine back on for a few hours after my tour. My phone was full of messages. How did I wind up in a Florida prison? Especially since I have so many relatives with the Broward County Police.

 

[Gnomey]

I used to get hit with phone scammers quite often.
I started answering the phone (when I spotted a suspect number on caller ID) with:
"Redding Police Department, Internet Crimes Division, Officer Dave speaking.
How may I help you?"

They'd immediately hang up

 

[GTX]

Not a prank call as such but perhaps the best ever way of dealing with a telemarketer:

 

[Zipper730]

Oh, I got prank calls like that: The thing is there's things that real companies don't actually do, so I usually play with them like "Oh really? Hang on" then I hang up. Other times I pick up with a silly accent "Hewwo, welcome to Wong Wei Chicken, I take-a ya orda please? I highly recommend the combo numba five!" (yes that was from a Weird Al Parody of Mambo No. 5).

One time I actually responded honestly, but in a way that might have been more blunt than I expected it to be received as. The person asked for my grandfather (he died in 2006), to which I responded "he's dead". The guy hung-up. I remember thinking -- "It's not like I killed him! He had parkinsons for 20 years!"

 

[Dana Bell]

Not quite for phone scams, but James Vietch seems to have it down pat for internet scams:



Cheers,



Dana

 

[Ivan1GFP]

I get a LOT of telemarketer calls on my cell phone. The problem is that the numbers are usually phony ones with local area codes or area codes to places that I might expect a call from, so I have to answer just about every one.

Usually, I answer the call with an Indian accent because most of the callers tend to have a very noticeable Indian accent. It is good practice. My Son is much better at it than I am. One fellow asked me if I was Indian and even after I told him I was not, he started speaking to me in Hindi....
These days, I sometimes switch up the accents to Western, Russian or German just to keep things amusing.
For calls about home security, I tell them my security system is by Smith & Wesson and is quite reliable.

By the way, how much would an extended warranty be for my 1930 Duesenberg SJ?

 

[GrauGeist]

Those bastards won't extend the warranty in my '62 Nova for some reason.
They also don't seem to understand German or Bulgarian.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Those bastards won't extend the warranty in my '62 Nova for some reason.
They also don't seem to understand German or Bulgarian.

If I pick up and it's an Indian accent I just ask them if this is duct cleaning or Microsoft. They usually hang up. I can't imagine being a genuine telesales person with an Indian accent, everyone thinks you're a scammer.

I'm getting tons of SEO scam emails from India.

 

[MIflyer]

Latest scam is the Chewy scam call. They have been sending out e-mails claiming it is from Chewy, the mail order pet supplies company, and saying that your order has been shipped. Presumably then if you did not order you call the number they provide and give them you credit card number and other info so that they will clear the charges; you know what occurs next.

Well, I guess that was not enough so now they are using phone calls with a real person's voice and showing up as CHEWY on the caller ID. The woman said they had shipped my order of a cat tree and condo in gray and white. I had not ordered anything from them and have no possible use for cat products and was amused to go in a store and see that such a product really does exist! They provided a tracking code number that does not correspond to any service and a phone number.

 

[bdefen]

We do not answer ANY calls to our land line. I don't have caller ID on it, so I don't rush to see who it is. Let it go to voicemail, and then pick up if we recognize (and like) the caller as they leave a message, or just listen to the voice mail, if they leave one. Most robocalls don't leave a message, so there's not much there.

Most robos we get are for Medicare stuff or automobile extended warranty pitches. Once in a great while, the voice on the other end is a pathetic whining young person who opens the conversation/voice mail as "Hi grandma". No grandkids. I know, I know, I must be one the last dinosaurs with a land line, but old habits die hard.

For my cell phone, I only answer calls from my contacts. The ring tone lets me know. I'll check the voice message if they leave one. Once I receive an unknown call, undesired voice mail or not, I block the number. I know there are robo call systems that create new outbound phone numbers at the speed of light, rendering my block ineffective against the a**holes calling me if they try again, but still, they get blocked.

It's sad that so many people fall for scams and are robbed. And while I scratch my head as I consider their gullibility and lack of reasonable skepticism, they are probably honest (but sometimes greedy) people who are easily beguiled and taken advantage of by the wasted-space animals on the other end of the call.

Our fellow man's penchant for attempting to steal from us, or to just annoy us, knows no bounds.

End of sermon. I'll call you for a donation.

 

[special ed]

All I have is a land line. My wife has her cell. The few live call to the land line of the type "Grandpa I Need help" are handled personally. One told me that my Grandson was in jail in NYC and needed bail. As I knew his fat ass never left the couch, I told the caller to leave him in jail. Another time I told the young empty head that I didn't have children or grandchildren was because if your parents didn't have any, you can't. It took a long silence before he figured it and hung up. Before robo all calls were in person. I liked the "Arthur Murray free dance lessons" because I would ask if there were wheel chair ramps. One was offering a free trip to the grocery to fill two carts with free food. After her very long presentation, I said, "No thanks. We don't eat." The few live people encountered today are told "Get a real job"

 

[ARTESH]

Not much of these type scams happen here ...

What is most common here is that they claim they have found some old coins , gold or silver , and have no use of it, but they need money badly ...

You can guess the rest.

 

[special ed]

In my defense, I pay the phone bill and since they called me, they are on my time and I can tell them what I want.

 

[special ed]

 

[at6]

As soon as they hear "Thank you for calling Cactus in the butt", they hang up.

 

[MIflyer]

When AT&T could not fix the line I switched to Vonage with a new phone number and the calls really decreased. Vonage also has voicemail that sends you an email with a recording and a transcript.

 

[MiTasol]

Most of ours are Telstra (the major telco whose name is an acronym of Tell Extreme Lies, Screw Totally Rural Australians) or Microsoft so my first question is what is my account number - if they don't hang up I play with them while I get my screech alarm and then hold it close to the microphone and give them my own personal message.

 

[bdefen]

As soon as they hear "Thank you for calling Cactus in the butt", they hang up.

I answered "Bill Cosby Dating Service, I can hook you up !! They started laughing, then I hung up.