# I pit phone scammers **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 22, 2020, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-phone-scammers/921266 "2020-09-22T23:00:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![FinsToTheLeft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finstotheleft/32/2930_2.png) [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2020, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-phone-scammers/921266/1 "2020-09-22T23:00:25Z")
This afternoon my 82 year old mother calls me in a panic. Someone called her by name from Bank X, saying there was a problem with an Amazon order for $900+ going to Germany that they think is fraudulent. My mother is no fool, so she calls me on her cell to ask me. I point out that she doesn’t deal with Bank X, but that it was good to question it and call me. Meanwhile, the scammer hung up. The thing that burns my ass is that my father died one week ago today. The fuckers likely roll through the obituaries and call the old lady widows to work their aural magic. I hope that one of their “colleagues” does this to their own mothers. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2020, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-phone-scammers/921266/2 "2020-09-22T23:37:06Z")
I pit the phone companies for resisting caller ID protection. I have gotten calls on my phone where the ID shows that the call came from my phone. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2020, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-phone-scammers/921266/3 "2020-09-22T23:47:16Z")
I have trouble believing the phone companies could not deal with these much more effectively. There should be laws against spoofing and real enforcement against harassers. ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2020, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-phone-scammers/921266/4 "2020-09-23T00:09:35Z")
Last week I got another one of the phony “Social Security has found me in fraud and there is an arrest warrant for me” calls. I thought they curbed those a while back. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2020, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-phone-scammers/921266/5 "2020-09-23T00:18:33Z")
No, they’re back. I got one the other day. A recorded voice told me that my social security number had been suspended and that I would be arrested shortly, and told me I could press “1” to talk to someone and get it all straightened out. I pressed 1 just to tell the person who answered that his family must be truly ashamed of him, and hung up. I don’t know why I did that. Usually I just hang up immediately. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2020, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-phone-scammers/921266/6 "2020-09-23T00:35:25Z")
> [@Saintly\_Loser](#): > > I pressed 1 just to tell the person who answered that his family must be truly ashamed of him, and hung up. I don’t know why I did that. Usually I just hang up immediately. I _live_ for those calls. If they don’t catch on to my phony ID, I can keep 'em going for 30-45 min with 57 being my record. But I have the time and inclination to do that. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2020, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-phone-scammers/921266/7 "2020-09-23T03:03:10Z")
I caught a glitch in the ss scammers system earlier this week. They called my phone but their system didn’t start their speil. I was reading a boring paper so I figured I stay on the phone to keep their system busy. So I say their quiet for 30 minutes before their recorded message kicked in. Then I hung up on them. Of course now they are getting revenge on me and I’ve gotten 8-10 calls per day since then and I finally started blocking their numbers today since its interfering with my job where I’m on the phone 6+ hours per day ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2020, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-phone-scammers/921266/8 "2020-09-23T03:09:16Z")
The appropriate way to deal with telemarketers and scammers is to let them run on until they reach the point of eliciting a response, which should invariably be “What are you wearing?” ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2020, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-phone-scammers/921266/9 "2020-09-23T03:09:39Z")
> [@Oredigger77](#): > > Of course now they are getting revenge on me and I’ve gotten 8-10 calls per day since then - Actually, your number was flagged as a target since you appeared to actually be on the line being scammed for a half hour so you got put on lists the scammers sell to each other. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2020, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-phone-scammers/921266/10 "2020-09-23T03:11:19Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > “What are you wearing?” Mine - “Guess what I’m eating.” ---
**Author:** ![Tierce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea5d25/32.png) [@Tierce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tierce)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2020, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-phone-scammers/921266/11 "2020-09-23T04:19:23Z")
“What is your Social Security Number?” “One.” “One?” “Yeah, I’m really old.” ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2020, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-phone-scammers/921266/12 "2020-09-23T04:41:16Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > I have trouble believing the phone companies could not deal with these much more effectively. There should be laws against spoofing and real enforcement against harassers. Oh, please. That’s like thinking putting a “no guns” sign on your store is going to keep an armed robber out. Those phone pricks are already committing criminal acts, another law won’t bother them. Besides, most of them are outside the U.S. and immune to our enforcement. > [@Locrian](#): > > Last week I got another one of the phony “Social Security has found me in fraud and there is an arrest warrant for me” calls. I thought they curbed those a while back. I’ve been getting them. They think I’m some dude with an odd foreign name. I’ve fucked with them so much that they stopped calling me. But not before they spoofed the number of the local police and told me they were coming to get me. I laughed so hard I almost pissed myself. I didn’t know the Social Security Administration as well as MPD started hiring only people of Indian/Pakistani decent. ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2020, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-phone-scammers/921266/13 "2020-09-23T08:51:55Z")
I get scammers here at work trying to get me to bring up a specific website so they can get into our computers and get credit cards. I usually have fun with them. When one told me to open our browser I told him we don’t use browsers. You should have **heard** the confused floundering. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2020, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-phone-scammers/921266/14 "2020-09-23T09:03:53Z")
I had a friend contacted by so-called NHS Track and Trace the other day, stating she’d been in contact with a confirmed Covid case and needed to self isolate for 14 days, and that they’d be sending out a home test kit. ‘Fair enough’ my friend thought, til they said they needed to take payment of £50 for the test. Thankfully my friend was savvy enough to say ‘If this is the NHS, we don’t pay’, but MANY people will fall for this scan. Bastards. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2020, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-phone-scammers/921266/15 "2020-09-23T12:50:05Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > hiring only people of Indian/Pakistani decent. I don’t think the decent folk of India and Pakistan do this sort of work (although iron grip of poverty may lead some of them into it). ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2020, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-phone-scammers/921266/16 "2020-09-23T13:06:27Z")
Depending on the scam, some may not know they’re scamming. In the tech support scam, they could be told to run certain tests, what the results mean(which is a lie itself) and to pass the call to a technician (the actual scammer). The IRS scam, they may be told they’re calling actual tax delinquents. The Social Security scam is harder to sell. They’re telling numerous people the same story about drugs in a rented car in Texas. That one is harder to wave away. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2020, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-phone-scammers/921266/17 "2020-09-23T13:30:08Z")
I agree that they don’t care about laws and are largely immune to local enforcement. But that doesn’t mean either laws or enforcement are optimal. Still, @pkbites is right. So what would work better? Is “ignoring it” really the only or best solution to a widespread and worsening problem? ---
**Author:** ![FinsToTheLeft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finstotheleft/32/2930_2.png) [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2020, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-phone-scammers/921266/18 "2020-09-23T13:46:02Z")
Just to be clear as the original pitter, I hate all of them but my my specific ire is aimed at targeted scams. Most of the scams you are describing are coming from demon dialers - they just call numbers sequentially, hoping to catch a sucker. Until you give them your info, they know nothing about you aside from your phone number. The scam my mother was targeted with was aimed at newly bereaved seniors - they knew her name and called her home number which is still listed in the mythical white pages. There is a special kind of hell for these individuals. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2020, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-phone-scammers/921266/19 "2020-09-23T15:09:08Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > they spoofed the number of the local police and told me they were coming to get me. That might be what happened here and didn’t realize they were calling the actual local police: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Shp3Kd_HGEU/maxresdefault.jpg "Police officer pranks phone scammer") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Shp3Kd_HGEU) ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2020, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-phone-scammers/921266/20 "2020-09-23T22:23:41Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > > [@pkbites](#): > > > > hiring only people of Indian/Pakistani decent. > > I don’t think the decent folk of India and Pakistan do this sort of work Of course not. My point was that every man and woman that called from the “Social Security Administration” had an Indian accent as did the cop who called me to advise I was under arrest for not cooperating with the SSA. Then he demanded I tell him where I lived so they could come get me! ROTFLMAO! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-phone-scammers/921266.md?page=2)