Scam phone calls?
 

I am sure that I am not the only one who receives phone calls from scammers but it has now become an epidemic.

"Microsoft" tech support.
IRS.
Credit card debt.
Student loans.

My favorite is the microsoft call. These all come from India with male callers with thick Indian accents. I have now started to play along and when I tell them that nothing is happening to my computer when they instruct me to do destructive things on my keyboard they get very frustrated :D. They keep trying and I goof on them for a few minutes. They never get what I am doing until I try to order Indian food, then they hang up.

Scammers
 

The most frequent ones we get in Canada are heavy Chinese accents, "calling from Windows" to tell us we have a huge computer problem. I usually express my grave concern and say something like "can you hold a moment, I think I'll need a coffee to get through this?" They always say yes, I put the phone down and don't come back. If he is tied up, that's longer until his next annoying scam attempt. Or else I just tell them we recently had our windows cleaned and hang up. They keep trying though.....

We also get calls from various collection agencies, trying to track down the people who must have had our phone number previous to us....we have had it nine years now. Guess they were serious paper-hangers. They are clever with their attempts though, I give them that. We always try to make them commit to telling us what they know first, and give them nothing in return other than to tell them they won't find those people here. Last time they pretended to be the phone company, calling about an issue with our email. I guess they get lied to so much they just don't accept the truth, or recognize it when they hear it.

The "Microsoft" guys can be lots of fun. I usually run them through a who's on first sort of routine.
"I'm calling about your windows computer"
"Which one"
"Your windows computer"
"yes, but which one? You say it's infested with viruses, you should know which one"
"your computer with windows xp, 7, 8, or 10"
"Sure, which one of those"
"Any of them"
"Right.....but which one are you calling about"

Longest I got was a bit over 10 minutes, got into a bit of technical questions that he couldn't answer. When I laughed and told him he really had no idea what he was talking about he got mad and put on his supervisor who got very rude. THAT was even more fun! especially since he had a decent grasp of less formal English. Finally ended when he called me a MFer and I replied with a joyous "Son! It's good to know you're doing well! " That brought a bunch of angry non English and he hung up :D

Steve B

I have the same kind of fun with them. I had one of them throw the F bomb at me once. It was a great conversation.,...

I'm still waiting for the one from Microsoft to show up at my house and kick my ass. Like he said he was going to.

Harassing these scammers is the only thing I miss about not having a land line anymore.

It only works with the fake Microsoft people, the card services people must really be in a sweatshop since they hang up pretty fast.

I used to get some really good ones in the early 90's
One person called selling siding, except I lived in brick apartment building. She was so pushy I finally went along and asked questions and went to set up the appointment for my free estimate. After giving the address she wanted some extra info to help identify the house. When I told her they couldn't miss it since it was a 3 story brick apartment building she got really upset and wanted to know why I'd strung her along like I did. I told her I'd tried a few times to tell her at the beginning and that I eventually figured since she wouldn't listen I'd just wait till the end. They never called back, and I never did get that free estimate.

The frozen meat sales people who kept asking for my wife - I was single, and even now a steak salesperson would have better luck with me - finally got the "teary almost crying" "No, she cant come to the phone, she died a month ago" Another one that never called back.

Steve B

I used an accent last time a card services guy called me. I kept asking him to repeat what he was saying and he did. Eventually he told me to give him the 800 number on the back of my credit card and my card #. I told him to go f--- himself then and hung up as I heard him howl something at me.

I also get the calls from the "Policeman's Association" and I tell them to give me their URL as I would donate online only. That is when they hang up.

Screwing with these people is really fun. I usually go along with it for a little while and then blow an air horn into the phone. I don't have a land line anymore either, but they call us on our cell phone.

One of my favorite are the ones that want to give me grant money to go back to school. I usually string them along for a bit and then tell them I have a doctorates (I don't).

And then there are the ones that call and offer grant money for no specific purpose. I either tell them that I already have too much money and the government can keep their money because they need it more than I do, or tell them to donate my grant money to a charity.

Edited to add: I only use the air horn on the scammers. I don't do it to legitimate telemarketers. As annoying as they are, they're still just doing their job.

We just got rid of our land line a couple months ago and got the scammer/sales calls all the time on it.

I must be crazy lucky because I have had a cell phone since the early 90's and have never got a single scammer/sales call on it.

I got one on my cell phone yesterday. It was a recorded message that wanted me to press 1 if I had any prayer request. I pressed 1 and requested that they pray that telemarketers and scammers stop calling me.
James

I get 3-4 calls a day from the irs, it used to be a live person, know it's a recording. The weird thing is that the call comes from the state and city that all of New Yorkers sent their tax form if they are do a refund

The number you see in your caller ID is a fake. These scum know how to make a fake phone number appear in your caller ID. I have tried calling back the number and always get a phone co. message saying the number is not good.

This is hilarious! Maybe it'll give someone the idea to use it or something similar when dealing with one these scammers/telemarketers?:D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s898wpcgcJM

The IRS called today on my landline!
A recorded message said the IRS was suing me and I should call 978 xxx xxxx.
That was the number that my caller ID showed was calling me. I called the number on my cell and used a foreign accent. I told the lady who answered that my name was Herman Berkowitzsteinberg. She asked me to spell it :). Then she read it back to me phonetically :). She put me on hold and then her supervisor (?) got on the phone but my battery died :(.

Well, they're brighter than the average scammer.

978 is the area code I'm in, and the IRS does have an office a few miles away in Andover. Their phone number is pretty easy to find if you want to check it.

Steve B

There is a Treasury Dept website to report the IRS scam which I have done.
And Steve, the IRS phone number in Andover is an 800 number.

They have a 978 number as well. Of course it's probably pretty easy for a scammer to fake ID from a number that's one off or similar, and have that number as theirs or one to forward from to wherever they really are.

I just thought that them getting the area code sort of correct (I don't think Andover handles NY, but could be wrong. ) is a bit better than most scammers manage.

Steve B

You mean all the money my accountant sent to the IRS last year was a scam!🙃
We keep getting them on our answering machine once a week claiming to be IRS please call imediately . I'm never home to answer it but would love to drag them through the ringer if I get a chance. And yes I do pay my taxes ! Brett

I got two new calls today.
One on my landline saying my car was out of warranty now.
I pressed the appropriate number to talk to a human and did a foreign man voice and she hung up quickly.
Other call was on my cell, telling me that my business qualifies for a $250,000 loan. Did the usual thing and she hung up quickly too.
Geez,,, it seems like it will never stop so might as well have fun with it :D.

lol i get the calls all the time as well as emails. I love the ones where they ask you for a few thousand bucks and will send you a few hundred k in return. I play along and tell them i wont wire them the money but will give them it in cash is they meet me in person, and they should come ALONE.


on a lighter note - i get a few calls a day about advertising. Person comes on phone asking me if i would like to double my business and double my clients.... I say no,i dont want more clients - they are usually baffled and at a loss for words cause that responce isnt on their sheet to read me the answer, lol