# What the heck? (Telemarketing weirdness)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-telemarketing-weirdness/406124>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [May 30, 2007, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-telemarketing-weirdness/406124 "2007-05-30T22:37:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\
**Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-telemarketing-weirdness/406124/1 "2007-05-30T22:37:40Z")

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I finally broke down and got caller id on my phone so I could answer the one call in five that is actually someone I know with a legitimate reason to phone me. I just got a call that was caller id’ed as my own home telephone number. I answered it thinking it might be my husband somehow (I don’t know, charging the number back to our home phone? I panicked at the insistent demand of a ringing phone, okay?) Have you seen this before? Is this some new shady trick by those shady tricksters, the tele-assholes?

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**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\
**Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-telemarketing-weirdness/406124/2 "2007-05-30T23:11:46Z")

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Caller ID can be easily faked. So it’s not surprising the telemarketers did that although I haven’t heard of that particular trick.

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**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\
**Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-telemarketing-weirdness/406124/3 "2007-05-30T23:55:20Z")

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Yeah, Telemarketers routinely fake numbers. I’ve seen them use a random assortment of numbers (for which the tell is a non-existent area code), a series of zeros (or another number), and yes, even my own number. They don’t want you calling their automated dialer number back and interrupting their business.

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**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2007, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-telemarketing-weirdness/406124/4 "2007-05-31T01:11:23Z")

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Ah - I suspected as much. So these weren’t your garden variety lowlife telemarketing scum; they were scam scum.