New telephone scam

[Anonymous]

New scam out there, might catch the less skeptical or knowledgeable about credit, so spread the word...

Received a robocall on my cell (*sigh*…I know, right?) from “Visa/Mastercard,” stating that I was ‘now eligible for zero to 6% interest on all of my Visa/Mastercard accounts’ and instructed me to ‘press 1 to start the enrollment process.’   It was from a 760 area code (San Marcos, CA area, I believe...).   

I blocked the number, but they always seem to find a way around it.  Grr.   

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

New scam out there, might catch the less skeptical or knowledgeable about credit, so spread the word...

Received a robocall on my cell (*sigh*…I know, right?) from “Visa/Mastercard,” stating that I was ‘now eligible for zero to 6% interest on all of my Visa/Mastercard accounts’ and instructed me to ‘press 1 to start the enrollment process.’   It was from a 760 area code (San Marcos, CA area, I believe...).   

I blocked the number, but they always seem to find a way around it.  Grr.   

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Sounds similar to "Rosie" who calls and offers 6.9% interest rates for ___? The group doing this is smart enough to keep moving around. They have been caught before and then they are gone. Off shore.

[Anonymous]

Hmm, not acquainted with Rosie yet. I’ve mostly been flying below the scammer radar, because I ignored credit for so many years. Guess Rosie’s caught up with me now...! 😄

[DaveInAZ]

My Social Security account has been suspended so many times it must have a negative balance by now . . .

[FireMedic1]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

New scam out there, might catch the less skeptical or knowledgeable about credit, so spread the word...

Received a robocall on my cell (*sigh*…I know, right?) from “Visa/Mastercard,” stating that I was ‘now eligible for zero to 6% interest on all of my Visa/Mastercard accounts’ and instructed me to ‘press 1 to start the enrollment process.’   It was from a 760 area code (San Marcos, CA area, I believe...).   

I blocked the number, but they always seem to find a way around it.  Grr.   

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Sounds similar to "Rosie" who calls and offers 6.9% interest rates for ___? The group doing this is smart enough to keep moving around. They have been caught before and then they are gone. Off shore.

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I'd rather have "Rosie" than Katie...........

[FireMedic1]

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@DaveInAZ wrote:

My Social Security account has been suspended so many times it must have a negative balance by now . . .

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ROTFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!

[DaveInAZ]

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@Anonymous wrote:

New scam out there, might catch the less skeptical or knowledgeable about credit, so spread the word...

Received a robocall on my cell (*sigh*…I know, right?) from “Visa/Mastercard,” stating that I was ‘now eligible for zero to 6% interest on all of my Visa/Mastercard accounts’ and instructed me to ‘press 1 to start the enrollment process.’   It was from a 760 area code (San Marcos, CA area, I believe...).   

I blocked the number, but they always seem to find a way around it.  Grr.   

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The caller ID # is fake and they quickly change them, but blocking them eventually slows them down, I used to get 3-4 per day, now down to 2-3 per week.

[Save-n-Invest]

My mobile is powered down unless I need to make a call. VM not initialized. Must frustrate the devil out of them. Home phone calls are screened with answering machine. Danged robocallers always seem to ring in while they are giving the weather report on TV.

[iced]

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@Save-n-Invest wrote:

My mobile is powered down unless I need to make a call. VM not initialized. Must frustrate the devil out of them. Home phone calls are screened with answering machine. Danged robocallers always seem to ring in while they are giving the weather report on TV.

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Given that all these scam calls are automated now, it's not frustrating anyone really. Just some computer running in someone's bedroom or back office going through purchased directories of information.

A couple have even built in a little logic to trick you into responding, like asking "Is this <name of person>?" or "Hello? Can you hear me?" then pausing until you say something. You can literally say anything (I've experimented a few times with this) and then it'll kick right into its speech to scam you into whatever it is trying to scam you on. Soon as they talk, just say anything - "roger Houston" or "test" - and if the caller doesn't immediately act confused you can hang up.

Another fun trick is they geolocate your number and use a number in their arsenal that aligns with it, so the more naive among us see a local number and think it might be someone we actually know. If you live in Austin, TX you'll likely see calls from Austin or a suburb, but change numbers to Birmingham, AL and the calls will start showing up from Birmingham instead. This also means that if you can get a mobile with an out-of-state number, you can easily fish out the spam by location. Same example above, but someone living in Austin with a phone that has a Birmingham number will get calls from AL - those are the spammers.

Anyone doing it manually anymore is behind the times or a complete amateur. They're saving the live interactions for fish that actually bite the hook first.

[DaveInAZ]

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@Save-n-Invest wrote:

My mobile is powered down unless I need to make a call. VM not initialized. Must frustrate the devil out of them. Home phone calls are screened with answering machine. Danged robocallers always seem to ring in while they are giving the weather report on TV.

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Well, whatever works for you, but my attitude is I won't let them inconvenience me. I get a ton of robocalls on my employer issued iPhone which is the local county government, and lately they've been mostly live callers. One persistent caller was "Hi, this is (name) and I'm calling you as you left your resume on our website", I figure it's some scam to try to get you to pay some fee, which is to get you to give them a CC#. So I tried "You're calling a county government phone line, no one left you a county government phone # to call them back", didn't work, they kept right on with their spiel so I hang up.

So I've been trying a different approach, answering the call with: "Arizona State Attorney General's office, fraudulent robo call hotline. Are you calling to report a fraudulent robocall?" They hang up in about half a second.