Posted on 03/16/2019 6:25:52 AM PDT by Leaning Right
Those scammers are sneakier than you’d think, but you need to protect your money and information.
(Excerpt) Read more at rd.com ...
I have received several donation request calls from cancer foundations. I love their introduction sentence. “You are harder to reach than having my husband cook dinner.” What? You are trying your best to make me feel, right off the bat, sympathy for you disturbing me? I just tell them I’m not interested and hang up before they can continue on with their script.
Easy enough for me: if you're not on my Whitelist, the call never makes it through. It's that simple and that's what I'm down to since it's impossible to block all these scammers and Lord knows I've tried!
I hear you. It often feels like an endless battle.
Thanks for the advice.
I got that call too, so I strung them along for awhile before telling them I had an Apple computer. So they transferred me to the Apple division. Really?! Microsoft and Apple work at the same place. So I trolled the "Apple" guy for while and then told him I had a Windows computer. I must have gotten transferred back to the first guy, because he cursed me out and hung up.
“I also got the “GRANDPA, I’M IN JAIL!” scam call. Recognized it right off as a scam.”
I actually got a from the local County lockup, wanting to know if I would accept a collect call. I stayed on long enough to make sure it wasn’t one of my idiot friends in need of bailing out, then hung up.
My father fell for the “tech support” and “lucky winner”. < pounding head on wall> Dad, if you want to just pass out your money to someone just give it to me instead.
I also never answer them. I listen to the answering machine, if they bother to leave a message.
However, I’m getting between 10-20 calls a day. Even replying saved messages gets to be a chore.
Now I’m starting to get calls on my cell. So I hit the “Send text reply” button. Very few respond, and so far, only legit ones do.
I get 75-100 calls a day on my land line. I never use the landline. I normally use my cell. There are almost no messages on my landline - just hangups. What a comment on landlines.
Totally fascinated by anyone stupid enough to fall for any unsolicited anything over the tele.
CallDetector for Tracfones is pretty good, and is a free download. It doesn’t seem to be as ‘bulky’ as some other detection programs.
It does not catch some of the newer things, like the AC-Local Prefix-local number. That bunch seems to have smarted up some and now attach names to the numbers. [I still do not answer them, unless I recognize the name/number.]
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.privacystar.android.tracfone&hl=en_US
[Privacystar is the company that developed CallDetector.]
If they call during my “radio time” I wait until they begin there talking points and I reply, Hey, I’m glad you called, I’ve been hoping you would. Can you hold on a minute?
And then I place the phone in front of my radio speaker, and then I crank up the lovable fuzzball Maharushie!
Recordings of how Tom Mabe and Jim Florentine handle spam and scam calls are available on YouTube. Funny and enlightening. I especially enjoyed the one where Tom Mabe answers the phone with “9-1-1. What is your emergency? ...”
That’s a lot of calls. I don’t think we’ve ever gotten that many.
An elderly couple I know fell for sweepstakes scam. Caller told them they’d won $5 million + a car, but they’d need to send money to transfer car title.
Then they’d need to send more $ for “processing fees.” They lost 1000s & scammers gained access to their bank & cc info.
Here’s the worst part—when their grown children intervened & reported it to police, cops made no effort to track & arrest the perps, despite a clear paper trail.
Instead, cops referred them to APS— Adult Protective Services, which is now trying to remove the couple from the home & place them in a “facility.”
The family is now having to fight APS.
“So easy yet some just can’t ignore a ringing phone.”
That’s my 88 year old mother! She, has caller ID, and I keep telling her not to answer the phone if she doesn’t recognize the number, but she does it anyway — sigh. She says she just hangs up and doesn’t give out any info — I sure hope so.
If you receive the “Grampa, I’m in jail and I need you to bail me out” call, simply respond, great, it’s where you belong, and when you get out, call me back. Then we can discuss the money you already owe!
I get that type most frequently. The IRS one was like that. I played the recorded message at work and we all had a laugh.
My favorites are the tech support ones. I like to talk them in circles. Telemarketers too. I try to keep them on the line as long as possible. My proudest moment was when the guy from MCI swore at me and slammed the phone down. Ah yes..... good times.
“...some nitwit with an Indian accent...”
I always tell these guys that Vishnu is pissed off at their thieving ways and is going to B*F them in Hell.
This one always makes them happy...LOL
1. Don’t answer the phone unless it’s someone that you know.
We don’t. Even got phones that block about a thousand calls. It’s probably got a few hundred on it already. I feel so bad for these seniors that get taken in because they have no one to protect them. These scammers need to be drawn and quartered!!
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