atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums General General Telephone & Systems Information Yet another phone scam

Aside from not answering calls from unknown numbers, if the question is asked, just say "no".

Obviously you heard the caller well enough to provide an answer....just not the one they were looking for.

I get "are you in charge of paying the electric bill?" all the time. I always reply "we don't have electric".

For quite awhile now I don't even bother to answer the phone and let the AA and voice mail handle it. If the call is legitimate they will leave a message.

For my cell, if you aren't in my contacts the ringtone is quack like a duck so I know what to ignore.

-Hal

Even though it's difficult, I try to remember that the people who are actually employed to make these calls are just trying to make a living. They aren't the ones who should be the target of our anger and derision. I just say, "There's no one in the office right now who can help you." Then they say, "Oh sorry, I didn't realize this was a business. I'll take your number off the list."

Another scam that has been around for a while is some group in (India?) posing as Microsoft Support, calls to inform you that your computer (desktop, laptop, 2-in-1 or tablet) is causing network problems and they would like to fix it for you (for a price of course).

I actually had one such call at the same time that I was on the phone with the real Microsoft Support. Because I was using the Partner ACS system phone in my bedroom, I didn't know who the second caller was, so, I flash hooked the first call to speak to the new caller.

The caller hung up pretty quickly when I told them that I was on the phone with Microsoft.

Others have come up with other retorts to this particular caller. Asking: "Which one of my computers are you talking about?" or saying "I have only 'Apple' or 'Samsung' devices" will bring a rapid end to the call.

I always say:

"Are you of the Hindu faith? Aren't you afraid of being reborn a cockroach for all this lying and stealing you're doing?"

They always seem to hang up at that point.


Sam

There are some great youtube videos of people who set up "virtual machines" (essentially a computer within a computer for the non techy out there). These guys making these videos range from the professional CG's to 15 year old kids. When it's late and I can't sleep I find myself watching these videos of people getting some payback on these scammers. When the Indian "tech support" guy figures out he's being baited he often gets really nasty, swearing and threatening the person. The guys who make these videos are very clever. By using a virtual machine, the scammer can do no real damage to their computer, and they usually remove the basic system commands like syskey that the scammers use to lock up their victim's machines.

The Microsoft guys are a constant source of amusement, you can keep them hanging on forever. My latest last week was 3 calls from Publishers clearing House, same guy all 3 times.They wanted to know what bank I used, I said East Bank of the Mississippi, never phased them. All I had to do to claim prize was to send a moneygram for 1% of my winnings.

I had one of those calls yesterday morning...Subcontinental accent and all. I didn't let him read much of his spiel. My computers are just fine. Click.

I respectfully disagree. The people making these calls are part of the scam and are as guilty as those that hired them. They know full well what they are doing.

Like Cool Hand Luke said 'Calling it your job boss still don't make it right'

Arthur, I agree that LEGITIMATE phone solicitation is a method that companies use to generate sales and the people working for them, although desperate, are not to be mistreated.

However, that said, this kind of solicitation is criminal. These people ALL know they are trying to scam the called party. I take these kinds of calls seriously. On the ESI phone systems, there is a feature that, with a press on one button, I can record the call. I do this and keep the caller on the line for 3 minutes. Then I just hang up. I then convert the recorded call to a .wav file and send it to a special investigator in the Pennsylvania Attorney General's office. Since I have done this several dozen times, I actually have built a rapport with the special investigator. My submissions have been helpful in their investigations. Since Pennsylvania is a two party consent state, I always begin my first answer by saying "to continue this conversation, do you agree to allowing me to record this conversation?" Every one of these slugs are so immersed in their spiel that they always say OK.

I had one tenacious scammer that called back 4 times, because after 3 minutes I just hang up. I ALWAYS ask for consent and this slug talked right over my question and when I did not get an affirmative answer, I just hung up.

I actually was dispatched to some of these "mass marketers" to troubleshoot their T-1 and PRI circuits. This was back when these people were trying to solicit business for legit companies and I always wanted to take a shower after leaving the sites.

Rcaman

My favorite way to answer an unknown call is:

(foreign accent) "Hello and thank you for calling Tech Support very much. How may I direct your call please?"

When my wife gets these calls I told her to tell them my husbands at work here's his work number give him a call there. Depending on her mood she'll either give a sex chat line, the local PD or if they claim to be the power company our power companies local number.

Indeed, one should say no. Nice one. An eye for an eye. But, what if these scammers try to get to customer service phones? Are the IP phones targeting the business?

I have an ESI phone system at home...I have stopped 100% of all the Robot calls. I set up the auto attendant that says " you have reached " blah, blah, blah , Press 1 to ring some phones" Robots can't press 1.., I have remain on the line go to Disconnect...Bye, Bye !

Yeah, I've given up answering phones. At home and office I let the AA pick up but I default to a general mailbox just for the stupid that might call trying to reach me. With my cell, if you aren't in my contact list the ringtone is a duck quack. Nothing is more annoying than getting robo calls or telemarketer calls on your cell, especially while you are driving. I can't believe that a telemarketing company would pay money for cell phone number lists, but maybe with all the dumbass Millennials who only have cells they have some success.

-Hal

I use a similar tactic as Brian & Hal. I have a Partner ACS at home and recorded a longer than usual greeting in an attempt to thwart auto dialers.

I don't have the option of disconnecting calls upon a timeout, but, my long speech will cause most dialers to drop before the dial 0 timeout action sends the calls to the phone on my desk.

Make the timeout go to "the receptionist" and record a receptionist type greeting that says "This is the receptionist. I'm either away from my desk or on another call. Please leave a message and I'll have someone return your call as soon as possible". Then have that extension outcall to your extension if they are still around to leave a message for the receptionist. I haven't seen a robo dialer that will make it through all that time.

On a related note, do you notice lately that the telemarketers are getting slick with the CID? Used to be that you could tell them just by looking at the CID. But now they display area codes and towns in your area so you think the call could be legitimate.

-Hal

I'm running a Partner Voice Messaging, so I'm stuck working with it's limitations.

I have noticed that latest trick. There is another giveaway that the calls are bogus. The Caller ID contains a mix of upper and lowercase letters. Ma Bell still uses all uppercase letters. I think that one of the cable companies uses mixed case lettering.

If the telemarketers spoof a disconnected Bell telephone line what I see is the name of the state in all uppercase letters..."MASSACHUSETTS" for example due to the line information being changed in the LIDB.

Any call I don't recognize I just answer in a bored voice County Call Center is this an emergency? Your call is recorded for security.

Nahh, that would take effort on my part besides telling the telemarketer that the number is viable. A better way would be to play a recording of SIT tones followed by "this number is no longer in service". I remember Sandman having a device to do that. Just connect it to your phone and push the button.

-Hal

A while back, the mongers got ahold of one of my numbers. The calls were incessant. I bought a 7 dollar answering machine on eBay and made the greeting the SIT tones followed by a generic "this number is no longer in service". After about two weeks the calls stopped cold and haven't returned.

I send them to an info mailbox that says your call is blacklisted if you feel you have reached this mailbox in error please send an e-mail to blacklisted at. Never seen an e-mail there but then again I rarely look.

This begs a question. With the advent of voip and cheap or free long distance, this has become a real problem. When I was younger and the phone company was the only provider of phone service, meaning LD was expensive, the telemarketing calls and spam calls were very far and few between. A call a week to maybe a few per month was annoying, but for the most part tolerable. Now that anyone can call anyone else for nothing and spoof caller ID at will, this is a serious problem. If your number gets in the hands of these creeps, it can be several calls a day, every day.

Does anyone know if there are any plans to deal with this growing problem? Are governments, telco's, the private sector, or anyone doing anything to combat this rapidly growing problem?

I'm not sure that much can be done on the government level. I would say that the majority of these telemarketer outfits are located overseas and are utilizing VoIP services to make their calls.

I read somewhere that US companies that contract call center operations to overseas firms are supposed to ensure that they comply with the law.

Outfits attempt to skirt the rules. Someone pitching solar power might conduct a survey before entering into the marketing portion of their presentation in an attempt to exploit the survey loophole in DNC rules.

If I don't recognize a telephone number, or, Caller ID shows what Hal mentioned earlier, I simply let the auto attendant or voice mail (calls to my cell phone) handle it. Annoying for sure, but, they won't be able to get any money out of me.

I Have Linksys ata voip adapter with caller id filtering built in so i can filter all the unwanted phantom callers and telemarketers etc. It also has the Hang up option , the out of service ,send to mailbox and more built in,, i also don't allow international calls turned on,,i can change my caller id if i want to remain hidden for a certain reason. Its great to have those options. It can be annoying getting those calls like when i am under my vehicle serving it.

Hi dexman, is it possible for you to share those incidents? Perhaps with an article or discussion here at this forum?

Don, can you be more specific about the incidents in question?

If you mean where someone pitching solar power disguises their call as a survey, that comes from my returning non toll-free calls (while hiding my number with the *67 prefix), noting the greeting played and cross-reference the telephone numbers on sites such as 800notes.com and/or whocallsme.com.

On these sites, people who do answer these calls log their experiences.

What I can do is review my posts on both sites and, somehow, provide links/details about the entries.