So now I'm getting spam calls

[dannylion]

leaving messages in Chinese.  


Interestingly, the call apparently from Goldman Sachs and the call apparently from Walt Disney Co. left identical messages regarding a "problem (or possibly error) with my account" and sternly admonishing me to return their call immediately.  


I don't have an account with either Goldman Sachs or Walt Disney Co.  


And I am not Chinese.    


If they are going to keep calling, I wish they would just spoof the same number all the time so I'd know to answer it.  I could then engage them in conversation in my bad Chinese.  It would serve them right.  

[Tennesseer]

Dec 16, 2019 20:11:27 GMT -5 dannylion said:

leaving messages in Chinese.  


Interestingly, the call apparently from Goldman Sachs and the call apparently from Walt Disney Co. left identical messages regarding a "problem (or possibly error) with my account" and sternly admonishing me to return their call immediately.  


I don't have an account with either Goldman Sachs or Walt Disney Co.  


And I am not Chinese.    


If they are going to keep calling, I wish they would just spoof the same number all the time so I'd know to answer it.  I could then engage them in conversation in my bad Chinese.  It would serve them right.  

Is it safe to assume the area code is the same as yours and the first three digits of the number is close or exactly like yours too?

[NoNamePerson]

I got two calls in a row from myself. Name and number! I so wanted to pick up and tell them that I’ve been talking with my twin and so glad to hear from triplet! But all those voices in my head were getting hard to understand talking all over each other

[dannylion]

Dec 16, 2019 20:22:41 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Dec 16, 2019 20:11:27 GMT -5 dannylion said:

leaving messages in Chinese.  


Interestingly, the call apparently from Goldman Sachs and the call apparently from Walt Disney Co. left identical messages regarding a "problem (or possibly error) with my account" and sternly admonishing me to return their call immediately.  


I don't have an account with either Goldman Sachs or Walt Disney Co.  


And I am not Chinese.    


If they are going to keep calling, I wish they would just spoof the same number all the time so I'd know to answer it.  I could then engage them in conversation in my bad Chinese.  It would serve them right.  

Is it safe to assume the area code is the same as yours and the first three digits of the number is close or exactly like yours too?

No, actually, they are NYC numbers.  When googled, they both appear legitimately to belong to the companies that appear on the caller ID, but the message is the typical scam message (only in Chinese).  Since I do not have a relationship with either company and the messages left are identical, it is safe to assume the numbers are being spoofed.  

The spam calls that spoof numbers supposedly coming from my town always leave boring messages about refinancing a mortgage I don't have or offering me a special price on solar panels or something else I don't want.  Sometimes the calls that spoof local numbers don't even leave a message, so they have no entertainment value at all.  All the really fun messages seem to come from out of state.  The one claiming my SSN was being suspended came from Texas.  

[Tennesseer]

Dec 16, 2019 21:19:40 GMT -5 dannylion said:

Dec 16, 2019 20:22:41 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Is it safe to assume the area code is the same as yours and the first three digits of the number is close or exactly like yours too?

No, actually, they are NYC numbers.  When googled, they both appear legitimately to belong to the companies that appear on the caller ID, but the message is the typical scam message (only in Chinese).  Since I do not have a relationship with either company and the messages left are identical, it is safe to assume the numbers are being spoofed.  

You will get the same message then from all sorts of NYC spoofed numbers of businesses.

For four years I kept an Excel spreadsheet of all the scam calls I received (I stopped keeping records this year). During those four years I received over 700 scam calls.

One interesting scammer always called with a different area code and different first three numbers. But the last four digits were always the same 8992. They called 117 times during the four year period. I knew after five calls not to even bother picking up.

Today they call me with my area code and first three numbers of my phone number. The last four digits are always different. They want to trick me into thinking local call. If no caller id appears which is every time, I don't bother picking up.

[dannylion]

Dec 16, 2019 21:30:29 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Dec 16, 2019 21:19:40 GMT -5 dannylion said:

No, actually, they are NYC numbers.  When googled, they both appear legitimately to belong to the companies that appear on the caller ID, but the message is the typical scam message (only in Chinese).  Since I do not have a relationship with either company and the messages left are identical, it is safe to assume the numbers are being spoofed.  

You will get the same message then from all sorts of NYC spoofed numbers of businesses.

For four years I kept an Excel spreadsheet of all the scam calls I received (I stopped keeping records this year). During those four years I received over 700 scam calls.

One interesting scammer always called with a different area code and different first three numbers. But the last four digits were always the same 8992. They called 117 times during the four year period. I knew after five calls not to even bother picking up.

Today they call me with my area code and first three numbers of my phone number. The last four digits are always different. They want to trick me into thinking local call. If no caller id appears which is every time, I don't bother picking up.

If I get another call from an NYC business and am in a festive mood, I might answer, and if the caller is speaking Chinese again, I will happily babble away in my terrible Chinese until they start to cry or give up in despair.   

[sesfw]

Think I received about 8 calls before 10am today.  One was so staticy I couldn't understand what was being said.  A couple wanted to help me with Medicare, a couple were nothing on the other end, the rest were cruise lines offering free trip to Caribbean .........

Oh well ........... sure glad the open season for health care is over.  At least the calls are down to 8 in the morning instead of all day

[Tiny]

I'm now getting between 4 and 6 'spam' calls to my cell phone per day. The number of calls keeps creeping up. I've never answered/picked up any of these calls. Most of the calls come from local areas plus the first 3 digits of my cell phone number. I closed on a house in another state about a month ago - and I suddenly started to get spam calls from area codes in the area of the new house... which is annoying as heck because I'm working with contractors and other local people and I can't tell a spam number from someone I actually want to talk to.

I use to "block" the numbers - but then I realized they were just spoofing numbers and it didn't matter how many I blocked - they'd just come thru on another number.   

I think there should be a "boycott calling day" - when people willingly didn't make any phone calls. I wonder if you looked at call data from the phone companies if you could tell which day no regular customer made a call? Actually, I'm betting you couldn't tell.

ADDED:  I still have a landline without caller ID... I get 4 to 6 spam calls per day- usually only 2 will leave a message of sorts.   I don't answer - the caller hangs up/disconnects when the answering machine kicks in OR a couple of seconds after the beep.  


OUt of curiousity - how much money do the phone companies charge the spammers?   Or are the spammers calling me on MY dime? 

[gacpa]

Look into "NoMoRobo".  It is a service that blocks robocalls for free.  I think there are other blocking services out there also.

[Miss Tequila]

I usually do not answer my cell phone unless the call is from a contact. It is a work phone but I’m not someone that interrupts what I’m working on every time my phone rings. 9 out of 10 times I get no message. Pisses me of that calls like that are allowed.

[wvugurl26]

I got a message from Verizon that I have free spam filtering for calls now. I think they get kicked to voicemail automatically. What I answer depends on what I have going on. Doctor's offices sometimes call from different numbers to confirm appointments, report results, and that kind of stuff.

[NoNamePerson]

Dec 17, 2019 8:04:09 GMT -5 Miss Tequila said:

I usually do not answer my cell phone unless the call is from a contact. It is a work phone but I’m not someone that interrupts what I’m working on every time my phone rings. 9 out of 10 times I get no message. Pisses me of that calls like that are allowed.

I'm not at work and it pisses me off. I have land line and cell. The landline blows up with calls mostly on Thursday's. Go figure - I started to notice a pattern. I don't answer any calls on either unless I know the number from some whose names do not show on caller ID and never on cell unless in contacts. Besides I hate the phone!!  One reason for Voice Mail on both 

[alabamagal]

Dec 16, 2019 20:26:21 GMT -5 NoNamePerson said:

I got two calls in a row from myself. Name and number! I so wanted to pick up and tell them that I’ve been talking with my twin and so glad to hear from triplet! But all those voices in my head were getting hard to understand talking all over each other

I’ve wondered what would happen if I blocked my own number.

[alabamagal]

My work phone has spam filtering. I think it is through T-Mobile. Class show up as “Scam Likely”. I just say It’s Mr Likely again!”

[NoNamePerson]

Dec 17, 2019 8:18:40 GMT -5 alabamagal said:

Dec 16, 2019 20:26:21 GMT -5 NoNamePerson said:

I got two calls in a row from myself. Name and number! I so wanted to pick up and tell them that I’ve been talking with my twin and so glad to hear from triplet! But all those voices in my head were getting hard to understand talking all over each other

I’ve wondered what would happen if I blocked my own number.

I've considered trying it but figure it will be one big Cluster F@@@ so I refrained  But sooo tempted to try it.

[Tennesseer]

Dec 17, 2019 8:18:40 GMT -5 alabamagal said:

Dec 16, 2019 20:26:21 GMT -5 NoNamePerson said:

I got two calls in a row from myself. Name and number! I so wanted to pick up and tell them that I’ve been talking with my twin and so glad to hear from triplet! But all those voices in my head were getting hard to understand talking all over each other

I’ve wondered what would happen if I blocked my own number.

I tried that. I had received several calls from myself and my phone number. So I blocked it. When I dialed myself from the phone with my blocked number, all I got was a busy signal.

[Tennesseer]

While it's good not to answer calls where you don't recognize the caller id (or no caller id shown) or don't recognize the number, allowing the call to go to you answer machine just tells the robo caller or scam artists that your phone number is active and belongs to a human and then the calls just continue.

You want friends and family to leave a message if you're not available but it also gives the scammers information about your number.  Turn off your answering machine and folks you would want to leave a message cannot do so.

[TheOtherMe]

I only have a cell phone.  With the some ios update, there is now a setting that unknown numbers do not ring.

Most do not go to voice mail.  The spam calls don't bother waiting that long.

What I'm not happy with at the moment is all of the political texts and calls because those are exempt for the no call list and I live in the first in the nation caucus state.  

On the text messages, I've been responding stop and I get a message that I am off the list.  We shall see.

[NoNamePerson]

Dec 17, 2019 11:46:49 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

I only have a cell phone.  With the some ios update, there is now a setting that unknown numbers do not ring.

Most do not go to voice mail.  The spam calls don't bother waiting that long.

What I'm not happy with at the moment is all of the political texts and calls because those are exempt for the no call list and I live in the first in the nation caucus state.  

On the text messages, I've been responding stop and I get a message that I am off the list.  We shall see.

The voice mails I get are always from UT and one other number. And it is always a fax type sound! It auto dials like fax machine is set to do. Heck, I didn’t think people used faxes any more what with text, email and everything else!

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

The only reason Trump stopped calling us is that TD has blocked all area codes coming from Washington DC.  

We have Ooma for our landline and when we get back, only calls from approved numbers is going to get put through.  We hate taking the nuclear option, but calls to the landline have gotten ridiculous.  We’d it, other than it is a very cheap way to call Canada.

[dannylion]

I was out for a bit this morning and missed a call supposedly from Bank of America in NYC.  They left a voicemail message in Chinese, identical to the other 2 messages supposedly from Goldman Sachs and Walt Disney Co.  I'm sorry I missed their call.  It would be interesting to figure out exactly what the scam is that they are perpetrating.  I don't have accounts at any of those institutions and remain persistently not Chinese.  

[gambler]

I tend to lead them on and then into my self as special agent fraud investigations tell them we traced the number thought towers and are sending a car to pick them up

[Lizard Queen]

Several people in my department got these kind of calls at work about a month ago. Chicago area code.

[Deleted]

I'm getting lots of calls in Chinese but assumed they were the common scam here that basically says, "there is a problem with your immigration papers and you must bring $1000 in gift cards by 6 pm or you will be deported".  As we have a huge Asian immigrant population, that's a real $$ maker here.  

[dannylion]

Dec 18, 2019 16:24:52 GMT -5 @donethat said:

I'm getting lots of calls in Chinese but assumed they were the common scam here that basically says, "there is a problem with your immigration papers and you must bring $1000 in gift cards by 6 pm or you will be deported".  As we have a huge Asian immigrant population, that's a real $$ maker here.  

I've heard about that one, too, and apparently it has been happening here as well, but this is definitely some kind of financial scam as all the calls come from financial institutions and the messages all say there is a problem/error with an account.  They didn't call today.  Maybe they gave up.  

[Deleted]

I'm getting multiple calls from "Facebook" and "Apple" telling me there's a problem with my account and it will be suspended unless I call them immediately.  They sort of take turns with "Microsoft Support" 

[NoNamePerson]

Dec 19, 2019 19:14:30 GMT -5 @donethat said:

I'm getting multiple calls from "Facebook" and "Apple" telling me there's a problem with my account and it will be suspended unless I call them immediately.  They sort of take turns with "Microsoft Support" 

Well, you might want to take those calls seriously, there is always a problem with FFB! It sucks so maybe it gets choked up and they want you to take a laxative to clean things up

[toomuchreality]

Dec 17, 2019 12:11:00 GMT -5 NoNamePerson said:

Dec 17, 2019 11:46:49 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

I only have a cell phone.  With the some ios update, there is now a setting that unknown numbers do not ring.

Most do not go to voice mail.  The spam calls don't bother waiting that long.

What I'm not happy with at the moment is all of the political texts and calls because those are exempt for the no call list and I live in the first in the nation caucus state.  

On the text messages, I've been responding stop and I get a message that I am off the list.  We shall see.

*The voice mails I get are always from UT* and one other number. And it is always a fax type sound! It auto dials like fax machine is set to do. Heck, I didn’t think people used faxes any more what with text, email and everything else!

Dammit! I've been calling and calling! I thought you said you weren't home?

I have both a landline and a cellphone too.📞☎️ And I don't answer if there's no identifying info I recognize.

I use no mo robo on both my phones. I suppose (hope) it helps some. I get it free through Comcast.

The same number(s) call me over and over, so I block them. Yesterday, the same number called me 3-4 times, before 10am. PIA!

[seriousthistime]

I've been getting different types of spam on FB.  I am a "mature" woman and actually post very little about myself.  I get friend requests from "mature" attractive men with whom I have no mutual friends. Sometimes I just delete them, and other times I look at their profiles.  They have newly created accounts (like one day old at the most) and have posted a lot of generic posts without any personal comment in a very short time.  They also have a bunch of "friends."  

We've been warned at work to watch for this.  My personal information was obtained through a gigantic hack at work.  The men's profiles are likely fake, and they may be foreign government operatives (which is possible, given my line of work).  Or they may be trying to make a romantic connection so they can scam me out of my life savings. 

I worry that as I get older I won't be able to recognize a scam.  

[Tennesseer]

Dec 20, 2019 9:02:08 GMT -5 seriousthistime said:

I've been getting different types of spam on FB.  I am a "mature" woman and actually post very little about myself.  I get friend requests from "mature" attractive men with whom I have no mutual friends. Sometimes I just delete them, and other times I look at their profiles.  They have newly created accounts (like one day old at the most) and have posted a lot of generic posts without any personal comment in a very short time.  They also have a bunch of "friends."  

We've been warned at work to watch for this.  My personal information was obtained through a gigantic hack at work.  The men's profiles are likely fake, and they may be foreign government operatives (which is possible, given my line of work).  Or they may be trying to make a romantic connection so they can scam me out of my life savings. 

I worry that as I get older I won't be able to recognize a scam.  

Just remember if an unsolicted phone call or an email asks for your Social Security number, credit card number, date of birth, or asks you you are in debt for some reason and to pay it off you either have to send money via Western Union or by gift cards, the call or email is a scam. No business you may owe money to will ask you to wire money or pay by gift card. Nor will they call or email you. They will contact you by mail. Even then, contact the business to confirm they sent the letter.

And if anyone contacts you to tell you a family member has been kidnapped and they want money or gift cards to release the family member, try contacting the person supposedly kidnapped or a close family member to the supposed kidnapped victim has been in very recent contact and they say they are okay, it is very likely it is a scam.

Of course new scams will arise. Just remember no giving personal, banking, or credit card information to unsolicited phone calls.