I regularly get an automated call that begins, “Don’t be alarmed but today is the last day to lower the interest rate on your credit card.” You press 1 and talk to someone who wants your bank account information. I know this is a scam to get my account number. Sometimes I question them about which of my many banks they represent (“All of them!”) but as my questions get more probing they invariably hang up. Once I made up a name and rattled off a random account number. They put me on hold and, of course, never came back. Today I started talking to the guy about his future in prison and to my surprise he didn’t hang up but engaged me in a short conversation. “You ain’t got enough money to put me in prison,” he said. He was quite good natured even when I told him I was trying to keep him on the line. (I have a notion from movies that calls are traced to their source and you should keep the bad guy on the line as long as possible.) He finally said, “You’ve got to go make your money and I’ve got to go make mine” and hung up. He seemed pretty fearless. He sounded American, but I can’t help but think these folks must be in some country where USA law enforcement can’t touch them.
Since the calls come every week or so and I can hear other operators talking to marks in the background, I assume this is a thriving business. Anybody else here get these calls? Is there some info on this scam I can read about somewhere? Is there any action I can take to help put them away?
Anyways, assuming that’s the case, it’s perfectly legal to do what they are doing. The most you can do is ask them to put you on their DO NOT CALL list.
It sounds like you don’t have caller ID, or, if you do have it you’re getting the notorious UNKNOWN CALLER or variation.
If you could get a number off of these calls there’s a fair chance you could google it up and see what other people are saying about it.
Man, I’m glad you posted this. I got that exact call last night, and it made my brow furrow. The fact that they didn’t identify which account they were calling about was enough to make me hang up on them, but I’ve been wondering about it since. My husband is abroad for the summer, and I’d have hated to screw up his credit card.
I think the number came up on caller id, too. I’ll have to check it out on http://whocalled.us when I get home.
I got that call 2 days ago, and I stayed on the line. After “press 1 to talk to a representative”, you’re cheerfully told to “press 2 [or 9, or 3, well, you get it] to remove yourself from our list.”
So, I did. And yesterday I got the same call, which amazingly was STILL the last day for this incredible offer. I guess some days are longer than others.
Also, the first day, the call came up as 062-###-####, which is a spoofed number, and yesterday it came up as “unknown caller”. Uh huh.
When I receive any unsolicited call, before they can say anything I quickly rattle off “Please take this number off your calling list!” then I hang up. Recordings get the hang up immediately. It seems to work.
I can’t remember the last time I got a telemarketer or scammer.
The first time I removed myself from their listings was several months ago. Face it, they are breaking the law. As others have mentioned, I’ve been on the Federal DNC list from the very beginning. And yes, I renewed my listing before the original listing expired.
