ALERT New phone scam, and it’s VERY slick
- Thread starter Dennis Olson
- Start date
SpokaneMan
Veteran Member
Relax. It was just me. You make it so overly difficult to send money to the TB2K fund. Next time I will pretend to have an Indian accent.
I have their company name and the phone number. I won’t post it to the thread, but if anyone wants to look it up, PM me and I’ll give it to you.
Signwatcher
Has No Life - Lives on TB
I used to say I was unavailable, can I take a message. Then I got a call from a lady (Mom of a NG Airman customer at AAFES) that I was writing letters to because she had to move to a city she had never been to to be closer to her Son. She left all she knew and I offered to write to her.
After identifying herself, I sheepishly admitted who I was and why I answered that way. Talk about feeling like a penny waiting for change!
I had a thought. As some of you know, I recently had to order a copy of my birth certificate. I had to use a third party company to place the order. I wonder if that company has a scammer as an employee datamining these requests. You have to give a great deal of information when you place the order. One week after I place the order, I get this call.
packyderms_wife
Neither here nor there.
It's certainly possible!
tiredude
Veteran Member
Judy...... I really cant translate you sometimes.....but I think i get the point
When I find it necessary to answer unknown numbers ( like when I have something for sale) I answer, and if no one speaks back immediately, I hang up. If the call is legitimate they will call back. Scammers usually sit back while the auto dialer finds a live one, and it takes them a couple seconds to pick up the line. I am gone by the time they pick up and I have never had one call me back.
WanderLore
Veteran Member
I've had a straighttalk phone for a year. I registered and followed up with Do Not Call list.
I must get 50 calls and voicemails a week from scammers. I block and report. Does no good.
I will only take a call from a known source. The rest can leave message. Which is just a long beep.
I don't know how to stop this nonsense.
I must get 50 calls and voicemails a week from scammers. I block and report. Does no good.
I will only take a call from a known source. The rest can leave message. Which is just a long beep.
I don't know how to stop this nonsense.
The idiots don't seem to understand that people are wising up. Legal docs have to be legally served or they can be thrown out. That usually means a process server or a cop. Even government entities are required to properly serve legal documents. Don't let anyone intimidate you over the phone. You can't legally serve anyone over the phone or by text or email. It must be certified per your state's requirements.
Martinhouse
Deceased
I no longer say hello when I answer the phone. Those I care to talk to have all been told to just start talking and then I'll respond once I know who they are. Several times, someone has started talking after a few seconds and it has turned out to be a legit call. If no one speaks, I just set the receiver down for five to ten minutes and don't make any sound. Since I started doing this, I generally get only one or maybe two unwanted calls a day. I had been getting as many as five or six per day.
One time a fellow asked if I was (my first name) and I said "do I know you?" He said "no" and stated the purpose of his call and then started to ask for some sort of donation. I interrupted and told him I certainly did not give him permission to address me by my first name and it was rude of him to do so. He sort of stammered a little and didn't manage to produce any more actual words, so I just hung up on him.
One time a fellow asked if I was (my first name) and I said "do I know you?" He said "no" and stated the purpose of his call and then started to ask for some sort of donation. I interrupted and told him I certainly did not give him permission to address me by my first name and it was rude of him to do so. He sort of stammered a little and didn't manage to produce any more actual words, so I just hung up on him.
With caller ID on my landline I have found that when a number or location comes up that I don’t know I wait to see if it rings more than twice and if it does I let it go to my answering machine. They always seem to hang up after the second ring so I know it is either a scammer or a survey. Even though we are on the “Do not call” registry we get calls everyday from places I have never heard of in our state. Before we had caller ID the funniest scam call was from “our grandson.” We don’t have a grandson. I won’t repeat what my husband told him.
Heliobas Disciple
TB Fanatic
Did you put the number into google to see if others are getting calls from the same number with the same message? Start from there. If they keep harassing you file a police report. They may already have a file going on that number. Any possibility at all it is legitimate? A process server can be persistent, they'll try anything to serve you.
HD
HD
They could’ve served my any time if they were legit. As I said, I HAVE NO OUTSTANDING LEGAL ISSUES AND NO DEBT.
Lone_Hawk
Resident Spook
@Dennis Olson ,I got the same scam, but in a text.
Capt. Eddie
Veteran Member
As you and every Iowan knows people you know only use the side door, mudroom door, garage door. Front doors are for decorative purposes only.
phloydius
Veteran Member
Dennis sent me the info (company name, city, local phone number, & toll free number), and I had a little fun pulling the few threads I could find... but ultimately did not find very much.
Posting it here as a PSA:
- There is a real "company" with the same name, which is a UPS/DHL/FedEx like company out of a northern state but only services a few states near that area. None of the branches use these two phone numbers provided, as far as I can identify. That "company" does not operate in Texas.
- There does not appear to be a company with the same name located in the city in Texas they claim to be from.
- The name of the company is similar enough to so many names, that when searching for it, many very legitimate companies are shown in google, giving an air of credibility at a 10-15 second glance (the max amount of time most people seem to spend looking while on the phone with a unknown caller before making a decision about how to respond).
- The "company" (and companies like them) do not do "certified mail", that is a USPS trademarked name, no other provider can legitimately use it without permission. Also if the "company" was sending documents via a trackable method, they would not know the contents any more than UPS/Fedex/USPS would.
- As of a few years ago (2016), the "company's" local phone number was owned by ------ - ------ (who would now be a 79 year old woman) who operated "a redacted-name HVAC company" out of her home at [Specific Address in different city in Texas]. This company is now closed, and no longer in business (at least out of the different city). The carrier that operates the phone number resells service to many smaller B2B Landline & VOIP services. There is no public record of who owns that number now.
- There appears to be no public record of who owns the toll free phone number. It looks scrubbed. Even the history of who owned this number in the past is "unknown".
- I have a note in my personal file from well over a year ago, where a family member was contacted by a "company with almost the exact same name" from the same city about a legal matter, but no note of the phone number they used. I do have a note that I concluded that it was a scammer & told them to ignore/block.
I feel it is pretty obvious that they are scammers. Any company, even a tiny one, would want their contact information to be online for people to contact them if they were legitimate. It really looks like these scammers are slick enough to spend the time to try to scrub the numbers they use off of the net (and pick numbers that are not already in the databases), so that when someone quickly searches the phone number when they are called it does not bring up "this is a scammer" on page 1 of google.
I bet their tactic/work enables a much higher rate of successfully taking people's money/information.
Posting it here as a PSA:
- There is a real "company" with the same name, which is a UPS/DHL/FedEx like company out of a northern state but only services a few states near that area. None of the branches use these two phone numbers provided, as far as I can identify. That "company" does not operate in Texas.
- There does not appear to be a company with the same name located in the city in Texas they claim to be from.
- The name of the company is similar enough to so many names, that when searching for it, many very legitimate companies are shown in google, giving an air of credibility at a 10-15 second glance (the max amount of time most people seem to spend looking while on the phone with a unknown caller before making a decision about how to respond).
- The "company" (and companies like them) do not do "certified mail", that is a USPS trademarked name, no other provider can legitimately use it without permission. Also if the "company" was sending documents via a trackable method, they would not know the contents any more than UPS/Fedex/USPS would.
- As of a few years ago (2016), the "company's" local phone number was owned by ------ - ------ (who would now be a 79 year old woman) who operated "a redacted-name HVAC company" out of her home at [Specific Address in different city in Texas]. This company is now closed, and no longer in business (at least out of the different city). The carrier that operates the phone number resells service to many smaller B2B Landline & VOIP services. There is no public record of who owns that number now.
- There appears to be no public record of who owns the toll free phone number. It looks scrubbed. Even the history of who owned this number in the past is "unknown".
- I have a note in my personal file from well over a year ago, where a family member was contacted by a "company with almost the exact same name" from the same city about a legal matter, but no note of the phone number they used. I do have a note that I concluded that it was a scammer & told them to ignore/block.
I feel it is pretty obvious that they are scammers. Any company, even a tiny one, would want their contact information to be online for people to contact them if they were legitimate. It really looks like these scammers are slick enough to spend the time to try to scrub the numbers they use off of the net (and pick numbers that are not already in the databases), so that when someone quickly searches the phone number when they are called it does not bring up "this is a scammer" on page 1 of google.
I bet their tactic/work enables a much higher rate of successfully taking people's money/information.
West
Senior
As a above the table business owner since 1989.
Seen and have been educated by the best scammers.
And learned I can be a sucker too. BUT have learned a lot.
Really the only time I've been really hurt by scammers is with women I've been with.
Blame my gender for that.
Anyway I just wanted to point out that Angie's list is a scam too. Who ever pays the most for leads gets the most referrals. That's dirty pool!
It's not based on customer satisfaction and best prices. SCAM.
Angie's list calls upon me often and I shoot them down often. Plus a bunch of other scams by phone sharks almost weekly.
Seen and have been educated by the best scammers.
And learned I can be a sucker too. BUT have learned a lot.
Really the only time I've been really hurt by scammers is with women I've been with.
Blame my gender for that.
Anyway I just wanted to point out that Angie's list is a scam too. Who ever pays the most for leads gets the most referrals. That's dirty pool!
It's not based on customer satisfaction and best prices. SCAM.
Angie's list calls upon me often and I shoot them down often. Plus a bunch of other scams by phone sharks almost weekly.
Walrus Whisperer
Hope in chains...
I must have made their no call list.
Me: WHAT? Who did you say you wanted? what?
Me: WHAT? Who did you say you wanted? what?