# Phone Scammers (weak) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 10, 2016, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phone-scammers-weak/757059 "2016-06-10T22:34:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2019, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phone-scammers-weak/757059/64 "2019-08-16T13:42:14Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > 99% of telemarketers give the rest a bad name. > > The scammers don’t shive a git about the Do Not Call list. I have been on it for years, and refresh periodically, and I still get ten or twenty calls a week. > > Regards, > Shodan NoMoRobo is a wonderful thing. You don’t even attempt to answer the phone until it rings twice. My in-laws wouldn’t let me set it up on theirs. We have a landline to our house… but the kitchen phone outlet is on the fritz, so we have the phone unplugged (we do have one up in the bedroom but the ringer is turned off). I’m shocked at how little we miss it. A large percentage of the calls we got - probably 90% or more were “legitimate” telemarketers or outright scammers. Legit callers leave a voicemail, which we hear about via email and notification from the Verizon app. With the scammers spoofing the calls so that they look like local numbers etc., I’m wondering when it’ll be impossible to place a call because your phone has been flagged by NoMoRobo etc. Usually the spoofed number is invalid but occasionally it isn’t; I know I’ve gotten one or two callbacks from people who wanted to know what “I” had called them about. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2019, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phone-scammers-weak/757059/65 "2019-08-16T14:56:24Z")
If the caller ID says “US Bank”, the recording says “Congratulations! [Booking.com](http://Booking.com) has selected you to win…”…and you _still_ give them information and/or money, then my suggestion is that you give up your power of attorney to a relative and get checked into a secure care facility because you are too stupid to be out in public. ---
**Author:** ![Kimera757](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kimera757/32/3765_2.png) [@Kimera757](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimera757)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2019, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phone-scammers-weak/757059/66 "2019-08-17T12:51:50Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > This latter bugs me the most, because…well, it fooled me the first time. I thought I was talking to a real person. Also, once you go through the whole song and dance, they just try to sign you up for a student loan. Nothing to do with employment at all. A vaguely related, weak rant. About ten years ago I was underemployed. In addition to looking for a better job online I tried one of those “job papers”. There were some jobs, including a neat paid training program that I saw there once, but… It was mostly employment support activities, not job wanted ads. Far less than 50% of the paper were job wanted ads. Getting forklift training, hazardous materials safety training, getting security guard training, okay. I learned that it takes around half a year before you get called after you were trained. (The hazardous materials training was so easy, I got 100% on it, without doing any studying before I got there, so I’m guessing demand was low.) School ads… well, school costs money, a problem if the person reading the paper is unemployed, and a problem if they’re living paycheck to paycheck. Also getting a student loan if you’re over 25 and have poor credit is both nearly impossible and a bad idea if you are “lucky” and get a loan. And unemployed and underemployed people are usually suffering financial problems, so naturally there were ads for credit cards and payday loans… :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2019, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phone-scammers-weak/757059/67 "2019-08-17T17:22:43Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > NoMoRobo is a wonderful thing. You don’t even attempt to answer the phone until it rings twice. My in-laws wouldn’t let me set it up on theirs. I recently got their app on my iPhone and it’s awesome. It’s not free but it’s worth it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phone-scammers-weak/757059.md?page=3)