I’m just curious as to whether or not anyone has heard of this or received anything similiar.
I was on the phone when call waiting beeped with a call from “collect” and a 440 area code. I didn’t click over. I can’t imagine anyone calling collect and didn’t recognize the area code, etc.
Got off my phone call and the phone rang again, same caller info. So I answered it.
There was an automated message from “Peter” (the “Peter” was filled in to a woman’s automated voice, like someone really making a collect call would do). We happen to know 2 Peters. So I pressed 1 to hear the automated message from Peter. Message was: Cynthia, this is Mike, I found out that I did, in fact, test positive for HIV, so you might want to tell (insert Mr. Cookie’s name) that. If you want to reach me, I can be contacted at xxxxxxxxxxxxx.
I called Mr. Cookie to find out if “our” Peter would think playing a practical joke of that nature was funny (the other Peter is out of consideration for a number of reasons), and Mr. Cookie said definitely not – he’s sure that it was not from the Peter we know.
So, WTF? Did I just activate a massive scam or something onto my phone line? Should I call the phone company? Has anyone heard of anything like this before?
Quite possibly. As a matter of personal policy I do not/will not answer any calls, or emails from unknown persons/sources. Better miss a call and be safe.
In the event it is somone really wanting to contact you they will try other means.
Press *57 after these types of calls, an automatic record of the call is made at the Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier (local phone Co, RBOC in th US and ILEC or CLEC in Canada). Call the Operator to report the offensive call and advise that you pressed *57 on teh specific line that they called you on. *57 is called “Call Trace” and traces the origin of the call even if the originating caller tried to hide their Calling Line ID. Only downfall is they can not trace spoofed calls made with Voice Over IP offered on sites like www.star38.com
Thanks for the information. Normally, I would not have answered the call, much less accepted charges, but two phone calls in a row, from a recognized name, turned me into a gosh-dang sucker.
You might also want to be aware that call trace is a $5 (CAN) feature. I asked once a while ago and didn’t use it.
But if you do use it, it flags the last call. The police (once they start looking into it) can call the phone company and find the flagged call and where it came from.
I have the phone number on my caller ID, so I don’t need to flag it (I assume). I called my phone company this morning and told them what happened. They noted everything, including the phone number, in our file in case something strange happens come billing time.