Posted on 02/17/2014 3:11:05 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum
We have been getting daily calls from a phone bank. Sometimes the calls are abandoned before we answer. Today I asked the guy who he was and he said something like "American Finance" and that I had applied for a loan. I told him that he was an accessory to identity theft and to dispose of the loan application or I would sue. He hung up.
I checked both my credit report and my wife's credit report and there has been no unusual activity.
Is this something I should be worried about?
There is another scam where a guy calls and claims he needs to check your computer for bad files. If you let him, he will have you install a virus on your machine you have to pay him big bucks to remove.
We did too. It seems to have gone the way of the prohibition of billboards on Interstate highways. For a few years back in the eighties and nineties you could actually see the scenery.
I get letters from time to time from a debt collection company saying I owed thousands. The amount owed changes each time up or down as does the debt collection company name.
Minnesota and other states sued this company but they have many names and keep on operating.
If you answer them, you then run the risk your credit rating will be ruined as they can now claim you owe them money. Throw the letters away and hang up on the call. BTW if you settle with them at a discount they just re sell the remaining debt and it starts up again.
Ignore the calls. I do not know how you can block them as they are overseas and probably change numbers all the time.
My cable provides an online service that gives me the number.
If it isn’t provided, IE; private or nothing, I don’t pick up.
If it is a nuisance I educate them with Frank or the Dogs.
Remember, if anyone you know needs to contact you, they will.
Trust me, the rest of that calling is trash.
Old School is Flim-Flam. Know it
Or blast an air horn into the phone.
Lately they’ve been from Jamaica. Hang up on them. I think there is an online place to report such fraud but I don’t know what the web address is. Other scams include someone saying that your grand child was in an accident and needs money to pay his hospital bill or to get out of jail or something.
I do this...some numbers have stopped calling, but others are doing a phenomenal job of picking up the slack...
Happened to me once. The caller said that someone from his company would come to my house to escort me to the courthouse. I told him to make sure the escort is prepared because I am a strong believer in the 2nd Amendment.
Never heard from him after that.
The number of phone scams keeps escalating. Each week I get calls notifying me of a virus on my computer, usually with a Hindu accent. And if you ask them any questions at all they don’t answer just continue on with their spiel.
And that is just one kind. The most common calls they say nothing, just disconnect, hoping that you will *69 them and be transferred to a pay number.
Nigerian prince, just send him $100 to release the money and he’ll give you a million.
You just bought house in Kenya. :-)
On the rare times I pick up, I feign being a confused old guy. “PEGGY!!!! Your sister in on the phone! PEGGY! It’s YOUR SISTER!” I can go on for HOURS.
Hang up on the bastard and never ever call any number they leave!!! If you have caller ID note the number and just don’t answer it!!
If this is untrue, then block the number, don’t answer and definitely give them NO information, not even a name
Caller ID means nothing in most cases.
See http://www.fakecaller.com/
I’ve encountered fake Caller ID data many times prior.
If the service is supported, *57 (or perhaps 1157, aka ‘call trace’...the phone company can allegedly trace all non-VOIP calls; look up how to do it with your regional carrier; the code is only part of it) is the most you can hope for without just getting them to stop calling (my method involves wasting their time lots of cursing...”Hang up, don’t call back” yelled every time they speak, interspersed with expletives...very effective. When they terminate the call, it usually gets removed from their system. Force them to terminate the call.).
Thanks!
“usually with a Hindu accent”
Do Hindus have an accent? Maybe a middle eastern country accent....
>>>I told my wife to never *69 anybody
Is that because it could lead to aural sex?
Lowbridge knows how to deal with Nigerian scammers!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.