Game Over?

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Long Run
Posts: 6717
Joined: Sat Apr 17, 2010 2:47 pm

Game Over?

Post by Long Run »

I got a call today that showed on caller ID as a contact of mine so I answered, and it was some spam call that I hung up on. I went back and looked to see if the digits of the phone number matched my contact's, and it showed the same number. Was this just an unlucky random coincidence that a scammer called me with a spoof of a contact's number, or are the scammers now able to determine who your contacts are? The "phone" companies through their lack of effort in stopping the misuse of their systems may end up killing off the phone (Edison rolling over in his gravel).

ex-khobar Andy
Posts: 5419
Joined: Sat Dec 19, 2015 4:16 am
Location: Louisville KY as of July 2018

Re: Game Over?

Post by ex-khobar Andy »

I don't know the answer to your question: but a phone call posing as anything besides what it is should be illegal. We have a landline (OK it's internet based not 4 wires) but we get junk calls to real calls at about a 10:1 ratio. If it's 'Unknown Caller' we don't bother; if it's a local code we don't recognize we sometimes answer but more often than not we leave it on the grounds that if it's important thy will leave a message.

MGMcAnick
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Joined: Mon Sep 28, 2015 10:01 pm
Location: 12 NM from ICT @ 010º

Re: Game Over?

Post by MGMcAnick »

I pretty much have to answer every call that pops up on my phone. It's the cost of being in business. I get a lot of calls. I can't upset a potential customer by intentionally making them leave a message. Almost every call that comes in with my area code and exchange is bogus. I've lost count of how many times I've needed to renew the warranty on my car or send green green dot card money to the IRS or Social Security.
A friend of Doc's, one of only two B-29 bombers still flying.

Burning Petard
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Joined: Fri Feb 12, 2016 5:35 pm
Location: Near Bear, Delaware

Re: Game Over?

Post by Burning Petard »

I too have been getting many phone calls about my auto warranty, and also about my health insurance. All are clearly phony and I hang up pretty quickly.
They all have phone caller id. When I call that number I always get a message abut that number is not inservice or is not accepting calls. I get calls trying to sell me gold as a great investment and I answer those, stringing them along as long as I can until I ask "if it is such a great investment, why are you selling?"

A new one (for me) just started last week. A call tells me there is 'suspect order for an Apple computer' that will be charged to my apple account if I do not call a particular number within 24 hours. This week it was two different calls about a big charge on my Amazon account. . . call this number to cancel. I hit the red disconnect button on each. Just scary enough that I did not even try to call back.

snailgate.

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eddieq
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Joined: Sun Apr 18, 2010 1:08 am

Re: Game Over?

Post by eddieq »

My "new" neighbors (since last summer) are Russian (been in the US for years, but their primary language is Russian). I've been taking duolingo lessons to learn the language enough to be able to have short conversations. I have started answering suspected scammer calls in Russian. It has the effect of either dead air, a disconnect or it's just the prerecorded warranty/credit card/amazon bs.

The closest Russian word to "scammer" I found is translated to "swindler", so I started answering привет мошенник which if you google it, it's pronounced "privet moshennik". I'm not sure what I would do if I got a Russian speaker from there. I'd probably tell him that the cat eats or that the notebook is on the table (one of the many useful phrases taught in the duolingo program).

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