I collect data and recordings of unwanted phone calls as a hobby, and to stay informed when friends & neighbors ask about calls they get. I (unintentionally) acquired a honeypot phone number which is deliberately in the Do Not Call list. This means that any calls I get on that number are either from callers who ignore the list or are exempt like political calls and charities, but mostly crooks.
Yesterday, I received 3 calls; one trying to garner credit card numbers for “Cancer Research” (phony), one telemarketer whose Caller ID said “GIGMEMBERSHIP”, which according to Google, “[is] an illegal robodialer with a pre-recorded message…[about credit card offers]”, and a third one that used a new technique.
CID said “US GOVT,” which is similar to what legitimate calls from the US Veterans Administration uses. When my answering machine picked up, the caller immediately began playing a robotic message, ostensibly from my US Congress Representative. It then morphed into what sounded like a typical radio talk show, with a glib, but unnamed, host and callers. The subject was political.
This phony talk show droned on for at least 20 minutes, until I got tired of it and hung up. Presumably it would have continued indefinitely if I hadn’t.
At the beginning, there was an announcement that you could press *3 if you wanted to get in to the action.
My guess is it really is sponsored by my congressman, and is a feeble and misguided attempt to find out what constituents think by forcing them to participate, or at least listen to, a talk show that they might not otherwise hear, also tying up a phone line. I wonder how many hours that might have continued if I had not been aware and was unable to cut it off?
Sheesh. Guess who I won’t be voting for next time.
Can you expand on that? How does this work, do you collect the recordings of what they say in a file somewhere or just have a list of numbers from known unwanted phone call companies? I’ve never heard of this hobby before
I guess I have invented a new hobby. Hey, someone had to start collecting stamps for the first time.
Every phone call that comes in to any of 3 lines (the 4th one is for fax) gets logged and recorded. And before you start lecturing me on the legality of this, please be aware that I don’t give a fuck what you say.
I guess I started to collect them when I got calls from friends & neighbors who just don’t know what is going on with this new-fangled thing called an Internet, and I’m not so sure they were comfortable with a telephone, either. 80% of the time, I recognized the scam they were suspicious about, but sometimes something new popped up, and I had to research it before being sure. So my recordings and logs assist in this research; when “Rachel from Cardmember Services” uses different numbers and techniques, I don’t lag much behind.
I’m afraid my neighborhood is prime territory for senior scams, among others.
It’s also funny at times, and a study in psychology – what lengths will the scammers go to, how transparent are some calls, and who falls for them?
I’ve often thought of making a medley of the audio; others have done things like that on YouTube. But it’s a lot of work. The more I collect, the more material I can draw from. Maybe some of it will be historic.
That occurred to me, and I may investigate. My recording will be useful if this proves to be the case, but it’s doubtful. I’d say it was more likely if this was before the election, not after.
My congresscritters have a “Town Hall” teleconference thing, but you have to opt in. I get messages on my machine saying “We are having a teleconference, to join press X”. They usually call a few days before saying that the conference call will be taking place and such and such a day, so I can sit by my phone waiting to be called for it.
That sounds kinda like what you got – but without the opting-in part.
